Depart Auckland and follow the east coast northwards taking in a quick stop to supplement supplies for the next 5 days and a cafe for anyone who missed breakfast. We make a short deviation to a limestone cave with one of the best glow worm spectacles in the country then take the back roads to Elliot Bay. Explore this secret coastal spot before driving a few minutes over the hill into the sheltered inland water ways of the Bay of Islands. Set up camp just above the beach at a private campsite. Red-tinged pohutukawa trees (New Zealand Christmas trees) shade hidden coves and swimming beaches here. Have a swim then help out with meal prep and enjoy our first camp dinner. Includes lunch and dinner.
NOTE: We stop at a cafe at 9:00am if you need to grab some breakfast. Useful things to have in your daypack today are: headlamp/torch, water shoes/closed toe sandals (there is a small cave to explore at lunch time), a pair of shorts, swimsuit, camera, wallet.
Tumble out of sleeping bags and take a quick swim in the inlet. Refreshed, we break camp and hike northwards, ascending through regenerating native bush to the ridge top overlooking sandy coves and rocky headlands. Catching your breath, gaze out across the bright blue Pacific Ocean. We pass huge steel pots amid the ruins of an old whaling station - a sad reminder of the large number humpback and southern right whales lost to whaling here. Many of New Zealand’s first European settlers came for the seal and whale hunt rather than our beautiful environment! Lunch at a cute cove of turquoise water with secret beaches and nikau palms. We then climb to Pukehuia (345m) the highest hill and best viewpoint in the Bay of Islands before a final descent to a perfect bush-fringed bay to enjoy a dip in the clear water. It is a short drive to the historic township of Russell. Then, after we take the ferry across the narrows to Paihia, the main tourist centre of the Bay of Islands, we stop briefly to re stock before driving north to our campsite. Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner
Enjoy the option of guided kayaking ($100-160) on either open coast, Bay of Islands or Whangaroa Harbour depending on the weather. Using a mix of single and double sea kayaks we kayak along beautiful bush-fringed coastline with red volcanic headlands, island outcrops, and sandy beaches. In Whangaroa, options may include climbing up an old volcanic plug (Dukes Nose) for views, or exploring by kayak the mangrove forests at the head of inlets. Lunch on return followed by a late afternoon drive up to Cape Reinga, passing Ninety Mile Beach and Te Paki’s massive looming sand dunes. Jump out here and impress each other with antics on our sandboards. We continue onwards, setting up a late camp at a beautiful sandy cove next to Cape Reinga. Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Take the option of a cliff-top walk (or you can drive) to an ‘edge of the world’ experience at Cape Reinga where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. In the afternoon we leave the Far North and begin the journey southwards, passing through Kaitaia, and across the Hokianga Harbour on a vehicle ferry for a fish & chips dinner on the beach before the final 40 minute drive to the Waipoua Forest. Visit New Zealand’s biggest kauri tree Tane Mahuta on route. Settle into our basic forestry cabins, then after dinner (and as late as possible) drive 20 minutes to our night-time kiwi walk. The reserve we visit has a population of the endangered North Island brown kiwi whose numbers are nationally dwindling. They are intensively managed and protected from predators. There are no guarantees, but with a bit of patience and cunning we might see a kiwi or two (or they might stumble into us). Great fun and a very rare thing to experience. Includes breakfast and lunch.
This morning we walk the Trounson Kauri Reserve trail in the shadows of these huge trees. An intensively managed mainland conservation island, surrounded by a sea of farmland, Trounson was once one of the best kauri forests in the country and provides refuge for many threatened species. Like many groves, Trounson is suffering terribly from dieback disease now. We arrive back in Auckland at approximately 4:00pm. Includes breakfast and lunch.
Notes: Because of the adventurous nature of these trips we require a ratio of at least 1 adult per 3 children.
If weather conditions limit our kayak option to the Bay of Islands we may spend both of the first two nights in the same campsite, leaving early the third day. Minimum numbers apply to the kayak trip (4). The kayaking is usually in harbour/inland waterways rather than open coast and as we mainly use double kayaks it's generally suitable for youngsters.
As this trip can be subject to tide times and sea or storm surge conditions, activities may unfold in a different order than stated above, or loop hikes may reverse.
