Journey To The Top

Catch-up

We left Tokerau and the beautiful Karikari Peninsula heading north once again, north on our way to the very tip of the North Island. I'm sure every Kiwi has a pilgrimage to Cape Reinga on their 'must do once in a lifetime' bucket list. I know it's certainly on many overseas visitor's list going by the amount of tour buses, rental cars and campers we pass on the road.

The trip to the top for most people usually involves travelling part of the journey along 90 Mile Beach (which, despite the name, is only 55 miles long) but of course with the 5th-wheeler on the back this wasn't going to be an option for us. Although having experienced the beach and the access points later in our visit, we decided we could quite easily take the rig along the sand. We had a quiet chuckle imagining the looks on people's faces as we sailed by (literally if it was high tide!). 

We'd decided to drive to the top, stay in the DOC campground near Cape Reinga for a few days and then explore more slowly on our way back down the 100km long Aupouri Peninsula-the finger of land that forms the top of the North Island.

Of course this didn't mean we weren't able to stop along the way so I could add a few more church photos to my collection; the first one just outside Kaitaia; St Josephs Anglican Maori Church built in 1887.

The Seven Day Adventist Church at Te Kao has seen better days but I've included it here because I wanted to tell you a funny story about taking this photo. Well it is funny now, but at the time it wasn't, it was the most scariest thing I've experience on this journey of ours.

David had pulled up just off the road edge in front of a couple of rural houses. The church was on the other side of the road so I got out, crossed the road and took a few photos and then made my way back over the road and behind the rig to walk up to the front and my passenger door. As I walked around the back of the van this large barking, snarling, teeth bared mongrel of a dog burst out the open gate of one of the houses, charging straight for me.

I have never moved so fast in all my life, I took off down the side of the rig yelling for all I was worth and hoping David would see or hear me and do something, though I'm not sure what. As I reached my door I yanked it open but I was travelling too fast to leap inside so I kept running, pulling the door wide open and jumping behind it. I then shoved the door back & forward a few times like a shield, shouting and screaming at the dog.

By now a guy had also come charging out his gate shouting at the dog (which took not one bit of notice). David's looking at me through the gap in the door like, 'what the hell are you doing, crazy woman?', not having seen or heard anything until I wrenched the door open. Thank God the dog must have thought where did she go and stopped in his tracks and started sniffing around the rear tyre of the ute and then disappeared behind the ute and out onto the road. I leap into the ute and slammed the door and David quickly pulled out. I didn't look back but I can tell you the heart & adrenaline were pumping for many miles afterwards. Now instead of David calling out watch for traffic when I get out to take photos, he's taken to saying check for dogs too!

We stopped again just a couple of miles up the road when I saw one of my 'must have' churches ahead of us, the distinctive Ratana church at Te Kao. I've had this church on my list for a very long time and it was great to actually see it in the flesh. And this time I had a good look around before I opened the door.

Further on we had another exciting but much tamer encounter, an emu! An emu just walking along the fence line through a scrubby paddock beside the highway. Emu farming was a new enterprise back in the 1990s but difficulties in getting the birds slaughtered soon caused a decline in the industry. During that time some birds had escaped their fenced enclosures, others were kept as domestic pets and it has also been rumoured that some farmers released their birds to roam wild.

Sightings of random emus has been reported in many areas around Northland & the Far North and in fact this was my 3rd sighting of a bird. I'd seen one near Kawakawa and another near Tauranga Bay and although they didn't look fenced in, I couldn't be sure as it was a fleeting glance as we drove past. This one though was the closest I'd seen and in an area where it could wander at large so it definitely wasn't a captive bird.

As we drew closer to the top of  peninsula, the landscape opened up; big skies, rolling farmland intermingled with swathes of native scrub and bush, dune lakes, wetland swamps and out on the edges huge golden sand dunes. 

Five kilometres before we reach the top we turned right down a narrow dusty gravel road...

....that drops down through the manuka scrub into Tapotupotu Bay and the DOC campsite we'll be staying at for the next few days.

At the bottom we're greeted by small sandy bay and a lovely golden sand beach tucked in between two headlands...

...and two camping areas- I call them corrals- one for campervans and the other for tents.

I can understand the tent corral, this DOC Camp is on the 48km Te Paki Coastal Walk and at the start of the 3000km Te Araroa Trail so tenters need some space of their own...

...but I have no idea why the powers that be would want to corral all the campervans & motorhomes together because...

...carry on around the corner and there is a huge amount of open space to camp, right on the edge of the estuary.

Which is where we set up...

...and two or three other clever clogs! I thought it was Kiwis that followed along like sheep. In fact I think it's because foreign tourists are sometimes unsure of what to do and where to go and don't want to do anything wrong so follow the leader.

There was plenty to see parked on the side of the estuary, the tide range was so great we were able to watch the lagoon fill and empty with each tide, bird watch out the back window and watch boaties come and go...

...including this group of guys who had a lot of fishing gear set up on their jet skis. In fact they were doing some filming for a TV programme one guy told David as his drone whizzed about around the estuary.

We saw them later in the afternoon when we visit Cape Reinga, far out at sea. We watched them skirt around the outside of the islands off Cape van Diemen and then pass around Cape Reinga as they headed back to Tapotupotu Bay, again way out so as to miss the turbulent waters below us where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. You can see to tiny splashes of white, centre right in the first photo, they were just tiny dots and we would have missed them had we not known they were out there.

The camp, estuary, stream and mangrove margins were ideal for bird watching- here are a few of the usual suspects; clockwise- A Eurasian Skylark, an epic struggle between a male Sparrow & a Grasshopper, not a bird but just about as big, a Giant Bush Dragonfly, a female Ring-necked Pheasant, a Black Shag and a Welcome Swallow.

This rather plain but dainty little lily was flowering along the edges of the tracks, and through all the thick grasses, it's not a native and I've not seen it before. 

I was up early every morning to search out two specific and very secretive birds. The sunrises weren't quite as spectacular as I had been capturing but still lovely as the suited the subdued surroundings.

I had managed to spot two Banded Rail/Mioweka from the kitchen window, they were across a wide expanse of exposed sand feeding amongst the mangrove air roots along the edge of the stream that fed out to sea at low tide.

They were very quick to disappear into the mangroves and tussock behind at the slightest movement from our side of the estuary though.

Click photo to enlarge- two Banded Rail centre

I did manage to sneak up on them once but only took a fleeting photo as one of them flashed past. I didn't mind though. After my very first sighting and taking a couple of good photos at Whangaparoa's Shakespear Park, then another sighting at Sandspit, this was my third sighting up north so I was just pleased to see them once again.

I knew there were Fernbirds/Matata about when I heard their distinctive clicking calls as I was walking along the boardwalk and over the bridge near our campsite. 

Often heard but rarely seen, Fernbirds aren't quite as shy as the Banded Rail but they are just about as impossible to find because they move fast, skulking through the dense vegetation at ground level and seldom poking their head out of the greenery. 

'You looking for me?'

But they are nosy and if you sit quietly in the middle of their territory watching for the slightest of movements in the reeds or thick scrub around you they'll often poke their head out or jump on to an open branch nearby to check you out. But as quick as a flash they'll be gone again. 

If they have a mate nearby or feel threatened they can also call briefly from the top of a nearby bush, but they'll disappear just as quickly to appear again not much further on, atop the next bush. 

We explored along the boardwalk and track (part of the Te Paki Coastal Walk) up into the bush over the hill on the other side of the estuary a short distance...

...and then along a 4WD track that followed the Tapotupotu Stream deeper into the valley behind the camp. It would be great kayaking quietly up this backwater, we flushed a number of different birds but the dense undergrowth made it hard to spot them.

Each day, as the tide went out I also watched from the window a pair of beautiful steely grey Reef Herons/Matuku Moana stalking prey along the receding waterline. They were very wary too and I only got a little closer to them by putting a bush between them and me and then quietly sneaking up on them using the bush as cover.

Looking like stealth bombers, with wings flattened out to keep their profile low and to help them see fish in the shadow, they carefully paced up and down the water's edge...

...until they spotted a hapless fish which, with lightening fast speed, they caught and swallowed.

Even though I suspect the reef herons were a pair, one of them did not like the other to be within sight and they both did not like the local White-faced Heron/Matuku feeding or flying by either. The dominant Reef Heron spent a lot of his time chasing the other one away and they both chased any nearby gulls and the White-faced Heron away. He just flew up to his favourite tree stump and laughed at them.

A Small Seaside Settlement- Sandspit

Real-time

We left Shakespear Park heading north once again. We were hoping to stay at another couple of Auckland Regional Parks along the way but they were all either closed for winter, closed because of the ground conditions or had size restrictions. 

I was feeling a little despondent because I had wanted to explore some of the North Auckland area before we arrived in Northland. Usually when we travel this route, we're on a mission; it's getting from A to B and through Auckland and out the otherside- north or south- as quick as possible. This time I wanted to see a little bit more; it's been a long time since we've been in the area.

As we approached Warkworth, I was scanning the NZMCA parking app, checking the location of places available (or not as the case may be) and bemoaning the fact that I didn't really want to carry on to Northland without at least  a couple of days exploring the coastline. And that's when the Sandspit Holiday Park jumped out at me!

'Let's give that a go'. I said, just as we approached the notorious SH1 bottleneck intersection at Warkworth. We made it into the right lane just in time! 

Sandspit Holiday Park's quirky welcome- thought we ere visiting the
 West Coast's Shanty Town for a moment!

We usually stay at motor camps when we need to give the batteries a boost or do the laundry, neither was needed but it was great to have a lovely base from where we could explore for a few days.

We would have liked waterfront but those sites had just been re-grassed and then the site we thought we'd get into was very soft underfoot so we decided to back into a bigger area under the trees just off the road frontage. 

Even getting into the casual camping area was a tight fit, David had to back in from the entrance but we were very pleased with ourselves when it went smoothly and we parked perfectly! That was until I realised we'd made a rookie mistake. No TV reception! We were under the trees, even though they had no leaves. I mean, how long have we been doing this? I blame it on the two months parked in suburban Napier, we forgot one of the basics. Check reception before you unhitch! 

Well we weren't shifting so that was that, no TV for three days. Luckily we could watch TV On Demand on the iPad for the news and a couple of programmes but internet reception wasn't that hot either so in the end I gave up and processed a whole heap of photos instead.

Sandspit is a small seaside settlement on the edge of a large estuary which is fed by the Matakana River. It's also the gateway to Kawau Bay and the wider Hauraki Gulf area. Water taxis and tour boats leave the Sandspit Wharf to visit Kawau Island.

Sandspit also has a large boating community and a fairly new marina on the inland side of the spit.

There's a small wetland and mangrove swamp between the camp and the marina, and now with my newfound knowledge on Banded Rails I suspected that there would be a few hiding out in there. I got up before daybreak the next morning and crept along the edge of  mudflats beside the mangroves not 50 metres from our front door which was very cool. 

There was nothing in the first area so I moved on to the next mudflat beside the wharf carpark, not expecting anything as it was much more open. Famous last words!  I sneezed as I moved into the open and couldn't believe my eyes when not one, but three banded rail shot out from the mangroves right below my feet, streaking across the mud and disappearing into the scrub on the far side. No camera ready of course, but never mind, I was thrilled to see them. Talk about feast or famine. I went again the next morning but nothing, I even sneezed hoping for a repeat performance. 

Sandspit Holiday Park is mostly full of baches, cabins and permanent caravans; there's no doubt it would be a very busy place during the summer months. Many generations of Kiwi families would have holidayed here over the years, it's the perfect place for boating, fishing and for children swimming in the shallow waters when the tide is in.

Baches line the waterfront from the park right along the edge of the shallow estuary just above the tide line and below quite a steep bush covered hill.

There's obviously a theme going on with the bach names, a bit like the hidden West Coast fishing village of Kwitchatown which we visited near Haast. The little bach right at the entrance to the holiday park was named Starter Box; personally the Wine Box wins my vote.

I thought I'd found my dream setting a little further along, this bach was set a bit further away from the other holiday homes.

That was until I spied another bach hidden underneath a huge pohutukawa further along and around the next bend.

With no road and only low tide access, this would be a place to get away from it all. And I bet generations of the same family have spent their summers here. 

...it also had a very kiwiana sculpture in the 'front garden'; no doubt made from all the lost jandals that float in on the tide. Which reminds me of a jandal that broke while I was on a turtle spotting canoe tour in Bali, the guide paddled around in the rocks for a short time and then handed me a jandal he scooped out of the water. Of course it didn't match, it was a different colour and a different size but with my good one, it did the trick until I was able to buy a new pair a few days later.