So we had a fair dump of rain Monday & Tuesday, Dean said work for the rest of the week is unlikely and has given me permission to head off again. This time I am heading North to Northland!
I sat down Tuesday night and worked out an itinerary for myself, picking out where I will camp, where I will be able to get food/fuel etc. I have planned it so that I can attend the opening of the International Rally of Whangarei this Friday night, and perhaps meet Ken Block, who will be there, but we shall see. The plan was to then go and watch a couple of the rally stages on Saturday morning, and then head home. This itinerary only required I travel between 250 and 300 km per day, which allowed plenty of time for excursions off the main route and plenty of sight seeing!
Meet my mascot for the trip.
Day One - The Adventure Begins!
I say adventure because I am heading out with a $20 Kmart tent, a vehicle that has, until now, been extremely unreliable (tho we think its visit to the mechanic on Tuesday has finally fixed it, fingers crossed) and the weather forecast not very favorable! But, I don't have much time left to go and see New Zealand, and there are only a few places left to go and I will have seen the majority of the North Island, which is pretty cool! And so with this opportunity throwing itself in front of me, I wasn't about to pass it up! ONWARD!
It started as any camping trip does, first off you must pack the car! Seeing as I was going for several days this time I was a little more thorough with my packing, taking along as much food as possible etc etc (btw Rob, all the items you left here have proven very useful! cheers!) Once this was done, I headed out! My first stop was to be the Sky Tower in Auckland City, as I have begun collecting shot glasses from the places I visit, and I hadn't yet got any from Auckland (and how could I go home without one from there?) So I took the opportunity to stop in on the way past. Looking back now, with the shot glasses I was able to obtain, I am glad I stopped, but at the time it proved to be a nightmare! You would not believe the traffic in the city at 10am! Don't people have jobs?! It took nearly half an hour to find a car park, and I had to pay thru the nose for it ($13/hour). I didn't take that long, but it was charged in half hour blocks.
Anyway, with that now out of the road, I plugged my destination into the gps, and continued on! With only around 200km to my intended destination, and by this time it was only 11am, I was able to take my time, enjoy the sites and make forays from the main route, plenty of which proved to be worthwhile!
a random something on a random hill...
Among my forays off the main route was this stop at a museum in the middle of no where, I stopped not to go thru the museum, but because museums often have gift shops... with shot glasses.. lol i scored a nice one there. But what I did see of interest there was this
Its an old steam powered log winch! According to the spec on the side it is a twin cylinder steam engine producing 13.5hp, not as much as I had expected.
Also check out the epic shot of the bird in the top left, a total fluke!
I stopped at the last town I would pass thru, Dargaville, for a late lunch, and to find a shot glass, before continue on to the Kai Iwi Campgrounds, two campgrounds on the edge of a beautiful lake, 35km (tho it feels much further than that) from civilization.
^ Dargaville
On the way out to the camp grounds I spotted yet another grouping of pink hay bales...
I have seen this several times now in rural New Zealand, some of them have signs expressing their support for the fight against breast cancer, tho personally I'm not sure what a hay bale can do in the fight, but anyway..
Upon arriving at the campgrounds I explored both areas before deciding where to set up camp, my decision primarily based on where I could get cell coverage.
The tarp is just in case it rains, it proved useful even before I entered the tent, a fairly violent and heavy, but short, shower went thru. After setting up camp, I wandered around the edge of the lake for a look, found a cache, and then enjoyed sandwiches and yogurt for tea (that was all i had at home to bring, everything else required cooking) I then ventured into the tent for the night.
Day 2
Well.. the tarp backfired on me! While it protected the tent from a late evening shower, it was quite breezy all night and the stupid tarp was flapping around and making so much noise it kept waking me up! I ended up getting out of bed and taking it down, risking the rain, I slept well after that!
8am and I was up, eating breakfast and packing up, I was on the road before 9am - no rush as i only have 280km to travel - the first thing of interest that I came across was a gravel road leading out to the west coast, it was only a few kilometers so I decided to go for a look, I was expecting a small beach area and that’s it, what I found was a small village of shacks, probably 12 - 15 of them on the hill at the edge of the beach
Continuing north on state highway 12, I came across a sign that read 'Waipoua Kauri Forest Next 18km' I didn't take much notice, until a couple of km down the road it became a magnificent drive, tight winding roads boxed in by beautiful forest on either side! Suffice to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, even tho my vehicle was less than suitable for this type of road.
About half way thru I found a turn off that led to a Waipoua Kauri Forest Lookout, I went for a look
^ Me in the Waipoua Kauri Forest, in front of the trees this forest is known for.
The next stop was something I had not expected to find way out here in the middle of no where, an I-Site with Forest Tours, and camping facilities! (I even scored a shot glass here!)
Not long after leaving the Waipoua Kauri Forest I came out on the coast at a town called Omapere, quite a beautiful spot!
Almost there!
This is at Kaitaia, the last major town on route to the top! Here I grabbed my lunch, topped up on fuel, had a quick look around and continued north!
I had heard a bit about Ninety Mile Beach before from the fellas at work, but I had forgotten about it, until the morning I left the fellas called into my place to get some keys and when I told them where I was off too they said oh you'll have to check out Ninety Mile Beach, well Kaitaia is only 10km south of it!
It is actually considered a road.
I would love to travel the full length of the beach, but not knowing the access at the other end, nor the tides, I decided to play it safe. I did however do some investigating and googling and found an access roughly 20km up the beach, which I scouted out from the road, tomorrow morning I will be able to come back and do that 20km run down the beach.
After finishing my scouting, I found not far down the road a turn off that went across to the east coast, this part of the peninsula is only 10-12km wide!
Next stop, the top!
I had arrived in plenty of time, so when I saw a sign leading down to Tapotupotu Bay, so I went down for a look, this was about 4km from the top.
What I didn't realize is that this is in fact the northernmost campsite, and where I would be staying the night.
Well there it is folks, this country isn't as pretty as other places in New Zealand, but it is still worth a look at the top.
I went for a walk down to the lighthouse, found a couple of caches, took plenty of photos, then returned to the Tapotupotu Bay campground to set up camp. I will head back up there in the morning to get some photos with the sun in a much better position!
Day 3
I ended up going to bed fairly early last night, which payed off, I was woken at 5:30 by a group of guys with boats, packing and preparing to go out for the day. I tried to sleep a little longer, but come 6:30 I was wide awake so I got up and packed up camp. My boss had said he would talk to me today about work, I think he was hoping to work tomorrow (Saturday), but last I checked the weather forecast wasn't good, in any case I decided I would be on the road fairly early today in case he wanted me home by tonight to work tomorrow. Before heading south I returned to the top to get some more photos, it was an overcast morning, so I was able to get some good ones that I was not able to get the night before, due to the sun.
I was heading south just after 8am, having already traveled this road there wasn't much to see, until I got to the Ninety Mile Beach access road that I had scouted yesterday, I headed out onto the beach and continued south.
^ Even google thinks its a road!
Everything was going well, until about halfway (10km down the beach) I realized I didn’t have 4 wheel drive…. I hit a couple of soft sand areas, so I decided to play it safe and engage 4wd, but when I took off, there was a horrible grinding noise coming from the front left wheel (I had used 4x4 the day before with no issues) so I had to disengage 4x4 and continue in 2wd, I made it tho, thankfully, and it was all in all quite a fun trip. Interestingly its also a quicker route than following the road, provided you ignore the 30kmh speed limit. Its around 15km less distance to travel than taking State Highway 1.
Reaching Kaitaia in good time, I grabbed some breakfast, and tried to call the boss, he didn’t answer so I continued on my way, just in case, towards Whangarei. I was really hoping not to have to work tomorrow because I wanted to check out the Whangarei Rally that started tonight.
About 20km south of Kaitaia there is this
Its a 13km stretch of absolutely magnificent road, so good, that I turned around and did it 3 times! (down, back up, down again) I only wish I had a better car! My 3” lifted patrol on 33” muddies handles better than this thing! This thing just flops all over the road. But still, I had fun.
Next stop Whangarei, I made it there in better time than I was expecting! I found a Maccas for some lunch and a spot to sit down and get online with my Macbook. I then contacted Ben, a mate of mine here who will be driving in this weekends rally, to find out some more details on this evenings event, he invited me to call into his motel, so I did.
^ Bens Rally Car
^ Me and Ben at the Rally Opener
I spent several hours there hanging out with Ben and his crew, this was also the first time I had seen his car finished, last time i saw it, it was a shell on 4 jack stands. At around 3pm I decided I had better go and set up camp, and go find a parking spot ready for tonight’s event, which would begin at 4:45pm. I was expecting it to be quite busy and difficult to get a park anywhere, I wasn't wrong. I was able to make it there in fairly good time tho and got to watch many of the cars drive in, including Ken Blocks Fiesta, what a car!!
I found out later that this is in fact the Gymkhana Car in his Gymkhana Videos!
If that doesn’t interest you, then you may as well stop reading here.
Unfortunately I didn’t realize it at the time, but this car ^ is of particular interest, I wish I had taken a closer look while it was on display, but at the time it just looked like a Peugeot 206 rally car, a nice looking car, but really nothing special. But boy was I wrong, and the second I heard it launch from the start line for SS1, I realized it. more in this later.
I watched SS1 and SS2, two runs on the same track, it was dark, but still good to watch. I then retired for the night.
Day 4
I was up, packed up and heading out in time to make it up to the Prime spectator spot on SS4, I wasn't up early enough to make SS3.
^ a real drone, $16000 worth!
when I arrived I found this viewing spot to be fantastic! Right on the outside of a hairpin!
Here are a few videos of cars going thru on SS4
and the ‘boring’ Peugeot 206 I mentioned earlier
I learned from various spectators a fair bit about that car (I also googled it later) it is in fact not a pug 206 at all, not even based on a pug 206, the ONLY pug 206 feature is the shell, underneath is a completely custom designed 4wd rally car, powered by a Renault 3.5L v6 Formula Renault engine. Yes, you read that correctly. This car is capable of going from 0 - 200km/h in just 7 seconds! A very impressive car, built by a 21 year old in his families barn! The car is called the Kelsey MC2 (Mad Creation 2), and it is quite an impressive piece of machinery.
After seeing the fast cars go thru, myself along with a few other spectators moved on to the prime viewing location for SS5
Another good spot to watch, here are a couple of videos
Unfortunately Kelsey made a mistake there, going right instead of left, which is a shame as I would have loved to hear him come screaming around that corner sideways! We could hear his car coming a good minute or so before it surfaced at the top of the hill!
By this time the rain had settled in, so having seen all the top guys go thru I decided I better continue on my way, I stopped in at Whangarei (the rally was about 40km north) for an early lunch, I then stopped in at the car park where all the rally car workshops were setup, it was time for the lunch time service, so all the cars where returning, I had a walk around and spent some time in Ben’s area before heading off back home.
On the way home I stopped in at Retrospace to pick up a Spock T Shirt they had ordered in for me, I then went straight home for a shower and to relax!
This has been a good week, though I am not a huge fan of traveling solo, it has been worthwhile, and I have now seen most of the north island!