When leaving the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula we drove further North. We left the Stony Bay Campsite around 5 am in order to pass thought Auckland quickly. We took the Auckland bridge and got a nice view over the awaking city. As we were lucky and did not get in the traffic we were warned about. This was mainly because the Auckland bridge has a good traffic avoiding system. As there was one guy on a special vehicle which was changing the number of lines for each direction by moving the marking from one side to the other.
Our first stop on the way North was the Waipoua Kauri Forest. The forest includes a nice walkway to the highest and oldest trees in New Zealand. It is very hard to get a good pictures of the trees and set the size in a frame. I stopped trying it, so you have to find out for yourself.
Further we drove to the Ninety Miles Beach. From my perspective the beach is not that spectacular and it sounded more interesting in my head. It is open to drive on it, for that reason it is popular for jeep tours. I guess it is fun to drive on the beach itself, as we only had a normal car we did not try it out. As we heard horrible stories of people that got stuck with the car in the sand.
On the next day we drove to Cape Reinga. The Cap is the northern place in New Zealand. It has a nice lighthouse at the end, which can be reached from the parking slot in 30 minutes. When being in the area, the Giant Sand Dunes should not be missed. Even if you are not planning to go surfing in the dunes, it is nice to hike around in the endless sand. At the Spirits Bay DOC campsite we found one of the whitest beaches in New Zealand. And guess what, we had again for our self.
After being on the road for over 5 weeks, we traveled slower and enjoyed more the small things. Like the sunset at the Mangawhai Heads Beach. Where we stayed in the Waipu Cove Cottages & Camping. On the camp site you can rent rubber boots for going to the Waipu Caves. The caves are also Glowworm caves, and they are for free. A river is running through the cave for that reason you need rubber boots and as well do not forget a flash light.
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