New Zealand campervan road trip: To the North!

The most popular way to explore New Zealand is by campervan, and who are we to argue? We split our time in New Zealand broadly into thirds; North from Auckland, time around Hamilton and the Coromandel with friends, and finally the South Island.

Our first mission was to head up to the northernmost point on New Zealand’s North Island, along the way having as many adventures as possible. A mission we chose to accept. Here are some of the highlights.

First time surfing and it is epic

Rafe has the hair for surfing, and now he has the skillz. A calmer window in a couple of days of windy wet conditions gave us the opportunity to get in the water. We were fortunate that NZ Surf Bros were able to provide us a lesson at next day notice, at Ahipara just south of one of our camping spots on the west coast’s 90 Mile Beach (famously only 88km of glorious sands). Having squeezed ourselves into wetsuits, a couple of hours later Rafe was riding waves like a pro and loving every moment. Thoughts immediately turned to making sure we hire boards and wetsuits at all future beaches on this trip, and buying our own kit when we return to the UK.

Reaching the most northerly point – Cape Reinga

We delivered on our mission to make for the most northerly point, Cape Reinga. The tastefully done information boards do a good job of explaining the importance of this point for the Māori. The spirits of the deceased travel up-country to a sole ancient Pohutukawa tree that clings precipitously to the side of the farthest outcrop, and from there they descend through its roots to the underworld. It is therefore the most spiritual place in all New Zealand.

The Cape is also notable for its lighthouse, and the fact that this is where the conflicting currents of the Tasman and the Pacific Ocean meet in swirling tumult.

During our visit the weather certainly matched the site and occasion, with the blue skies and views of the headland and giant Te Paki sand dunes topped of with the long white clouds that New Zealand is famous for.

The Giant Sand Dunes

Just south of Cape Reinga are the Te Paki giant sand dunes, which demark the northern end of 90 mile beach. We arrived first thing in the morning (having escaped the mosquitoes of the DOC campsite at the otherwise glorious Tapotupotu Beach as soon as we could) and the area was deserted. Grabbing our toy bodyboard we made our way up, the kids occasionally stopping to roll down again.

It turns out that bodyboarding down the sand dunes is made an awful lot harder to achieve with a rubbish board. Ours has a somewhat scraggy material on its base which acted as a big friction brake against the sand. Despite going to the top of the biggest dune we could see, downhill progress was sporadic. Nevertheless, still great fun. Boards more suited to the sand can be hired from the car park kiosk between 10am and 6pm.

Piha surf haven

On the west coast approximately on the same latitude as Auckland is Piha. We were recommended to go here by good friends and we are very glad we did. Despite a blustery day with periodic biblical rain showers we had a great time. The sandy beach itself is of blacks sand from the ash of the surrounding extinct volcanos. The nature of the sand bars and surrounding headlands gives the surf a curious mix of left and right breaks which were pretty big and treacherous during our visit. Emboldened by recent surfing success, Jim and Rafe were nevertheless straight into the water armed with nothing more than our cheap toy bodyboard and barrels of naïve enthusiasm. The lifeguards on duty had had a quiet morning thus far, but sat up in their hut as they realised that a pair of crazies had entered the broiling mess of wind, waves and rain. We had a great time attempting to remain standing in the face of the waves, jumping about and catching the odd breaker on the body board – resulting in inevitable filling of the shorts with black sand. To congratulate ourselves on our epic shredding we had a great slap-up lunch at the Juke Joint BBQ place above Piha Surf Lifesaving Club which is just back from the beach.

We parked up for the night atop a headland overlooking Piha, which offered little in the way of creature comforts, but its tremendous clifftop walk yielded a decent sunset and great coastline views the following morning after the stormy fog had cleared.

Surely some of the world’s best beaches?

Along the way we were lucky to stay on or very near some outstanding beaches during mostly great weather. It remains to be seen if these turn out to be the best beaches we see on our journey, but it is hard to imagine any better right now:

• Takatu Point – evidently popular with surfers, this beach is at the end of a track and situated in the kiwi reserve of the same name. There’s a DOC campsite if you book ahead, and also toilets and water for all visitors to use.
• Ruakaka – we didn’t stay here but there were some freedom camping spots in the beach carpark. A glorious beach that we spent some time on, playing and watching someone standing in the surf strumming a guitar. True story.
• Matapouri – another cracking beach that we stayed at just behind the dunes. There is a further small bay to the north that you can paddle / swim to depending on the tide and walks across the headland.
• Tokerau – an incredible free camping spot on the most epic of beaches. Has the enormous benefit of a brisk outdoor shower attached to the toilet block too. We saw someone catch a surprisingly large fish one morning from the surf.
• Tapotupotu – a great beach, showers etc close to Cape Reinga. It is the northernmost campsite which extends inland a little up the estuary, which clears to sand at low tide. It is also home to an epic number of mosquitoes so perhaps visit the beach in the daytime and stay elsewhere.
• 90 mile beach – there is little to say that hasn’t already been said.
• Piha – relatively close to Auckland on the west coast. The place revolves around the surf. It was wet and blustery when we were there which added to the dramatic effect of the views.