Northland Roadtrip (Whangarei to Kawakawa)

Saying goodbye to Whangarei wasn't hard, because we are heading to Kawakawa and that means more beach bonding! So taking the road again starting from the Whangarei. If you are coming from the south follow State Highway 1 through Whangarei until you reach a roundabout and take the road left. However if you are coming from north still follow State Highway 1 until you see signs for Kamo turn right and head for the coast. Great beaches and I might say secluded beaches settle the coast of Ngunguru, Tutukaka and Matapouri. The  Ngunguru town is small that will welcome you with stunning, like a secret, solemn and very safe beaches to swim to. Its river is one of its attractions too, nice place to picnic, swim and to enjoy wind surfing. The river too is popular for boating and kayaking so its not a dull place to have a stop. You can also find a number of holiday homes and accommodations in Ngunguru if you wish to stay for more days which are really tempting because you can find them a few walks away from the beaches and the river. With everybody tired and from all activities we spent the night in a holiday park nearby with our motorhome. We wanted to give ourselves a sort of fine accommodation but the beach house had this 2 days of minimum and that's not how long we intended to stay. Morning and everyone excited to leave to Paihia. We spent couple of hours exploring Tutukaka the gateway to the Poor Knights Islands, it was a miss not to be able to spend a dive in Tutukaka as it is a premier dive site like no other even for first timers. The waters are calm and great areas are perfect for master divers as well.


Alright so moving on to head to Kawakawa we pass on the same road, turning right towards the inlet coastal town of Whananaki, you will find the beautiful Barrons beach and Kings beach between those beaches is a camping site and a picturesque. Heading back to SH1 we visited the caves and glowworms at Waiomio. And strange but you might want to take a slight detour left off the road into the Kawakawa township and take a look at Kawakawa's famous Hundertwasser toilets. If you drive from Whangarei straight to Kawakawa it will take you 45 minutes. One of the top rated attractions in town is a relic of the early settlement is Kawakawa Mission House, built in 1832 and thus the second-oldest surviving European building in New Zealand.