Running with the Ward's: Camping

Showing posts with label Camping. Show all posts

Top of the North - Part 1

Justin and I visited the northernmost point in New Zealand over the 4 day Easter weekend. We headed out Friday morning bound for the KariKari peninsula. We didn't get out early enough and got caught in quite a bit of traffic. It took us forever to finally arrive at our Maitai Bay campsite. Unfortunately, it was not until we drove up to the check in kiosk that I remembered we needed $20 cash to pay for the site. So we turned around and drove back over the 2 km un-groomed gravel road and luckily found a convenience store that allowed me to get cash out since there was not an atm anywhere nearby. We settled into our campsite and spent the evening walking on the beach and reading once the sun went down.

Beach near Maitai Bay campsite

The next morning we rose early and I went for a scenic hike while Justin packed up (yes, I got the better end of that deal). We headed out after breakfast hoping to get to Ahipara in time to catch some waves. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor and there were absolutely no waves in Ahipara which is usually a great surf spot. So we scrapped our plans for surfing and hired a quad bike to ride along 90 mile beach. The ride turned out to be amazing and we explored about 30 km of 90 mile beach. 90 mile beach is actually a stretch of 88 km of beach that runs from Ahipara north to near Cape Reinga. We spent a great evening watching the sun set over the beach before retiring to our nearby campsite.

There were "wild" horses everywhere up North

Cute little fantail let me photograph it on my hike

View from my hike

And another view from my hike

Posing on the quad bike

90 mile beach from Ahipara

The clouds made for some awesome sunset shots

Well, the clouds and the low, long tide

Seriously....I love this one

Surfing Raglan

Justin and I spent the weekend camping and surfing in Raglan with our neighbors, Rebecka and Peter. We drove down to Raglan (about two hours south of Auckland on the west coast) on Saturday morning, checked into our campsite at Raglan Kopua Holiday Park and headed for Ngarunui Beach. We hired surf boards for an hour and then laid on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. I left my wetsuit at the campsite and had to use a short one provided by the surf board hire place. Something on the board really irritated my arms and knees and left me covered in red bumps.

Lindsay at Whale Bay....for expert surfers only

That evening we set up our campsite and then walked over the bridge to the main street of Raglan for dinner at Vinnie's. We enjoyed pizza and chips followed by a fun evening hanging out at the campsite. There was much discussion surrounding jumping off aforementioned bridge as we saw two young boys jump on our way to dinner. Fortunately, the tides were not in our favor as there were warnings not to jump at low tide and so we stayed dry (and safe).

Our campsite....yep, we got a tent

The bridge looking back at the campground

Main Street Raglan

Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast at Blacksand Cafe before heading back to the beach. We hired boards for a half day and spent the next four hours surfing (with a few rest breaks). This was our third time to surf and Justin and I both mastered the skill of actually standing on our boards. I won't say what usually happened after about 10 seconds of my standing up on the board but never-the-less, I am proud of my surf skills! Now picture me looking really cool with a cute pink surf board before you scroll down to the photos and see me in my full wet suit and GIANT board. Rebecka and I both enjoyed having a girl to surf and lay on the beach with since neither of our partners can sit still! Surfing takes its toll though and we were barely able to function for the rest of the day (or the next day for that matter).

Justin walking back with his board

I'm sure you pictured us looking this cool??

Yep, beginner surfers need giant boards....easier to balance and control

Jucy Adventure - Bay of Islands

We woke up Sunday morning to this at Beachside Holiday Park.....

Sunrise at Beachside Holiday Park.

We were lucky enough to spot a whole pod of dolphins out in the bay as well! After showers, we headed into Paihia for breakfast before our sailing adventure! I enjoyed a scone on the rooftop patio at Upper Deck while the others had a hot meal. The patio looked out onto the Bay of Islands and was a beautiful backdrop for breakfast! I think we have a combined total of over 600 pictures from our 3 days and this is the only group shot! And for the record, I don't think I am bending down in this picture, I'm just that short!

Breakfast at Upper Deck in Paihia.

We booked a sailing tour on She's a Lady and set out around 10. The tour had a total of 9 people including our skipper, Glen. We all got to take turns driving the boat which was great fun especially when the wind picked up! The boys saw a little blue penguin in the water but Tiffany and I missed it. We sailed for a few hours before docking at the isolated Robertson Island (read we were the only people on the island) for exploring and lunch. The boys took advantage of the kayaks while Tiffany and I opted to go on shore and see some of the island. It turned out to be a good decision on our part as the boys got soaked from the waist down and it was a pretty cool day to start with. I won't mention which pieces of clothing the boys left to dry in the sun on a rock. We had a picnic lunch on the beach (sandwiches/fruit/cookies prepared by the skipper) and went on a short hike after lunch to the look out. The views were impressive from the top and worth the climb. We had a fabulous day and the weather was perfectly sunny for us!

Sailing on She's a Lady.

Justin driving the boat!

Obligatory sailing pic.

Lindsay driving the boat.

She's a Lady with Justin kayaking in front.

View off Robertson Island

Picnic!

Tiffany and David enjoying lunch.

View from the lookout.

We explored Paihia and did some shopping after our sailing tour. We located Haruru Falls outside of town after nearly turning around. We followed a paved road until it turned into a dirt road and then back into a paved road. The sun was almost down and we figured we had passed the falls any way. Then we spotted the small sign and made the short trek to the falls just before losing all daylight! Evidently, Haruru is one of only a few horseshoe shaped falls in the world (think Niagara Falls shape).

Haruru Falls

That evening we cooked sausages and zucchini on the grill for dinner and huddled in the Jucy afterwards to keep warm. Justin and I took the top bunk which I believe was the softer of the two beds but made for an interesting climb down in the middle of the night!

Muriwai

Muriwai beach is a black sand beach on the west coast of New Zealand about 30 minutes north of Auckland. The waves off the Tasman Sea pound the sand and cliffs making it a favorite spot of surfers. A campground near Muriwai beach was our destination for Saturday night.

Enroute to Muriwai, we stopped for a quick mountain bike ride at Sanders Reserve. Although this new bike park is aesthetically pleasing, the trails are not for the faint of heart. I struggled on the steep down hills into hairpin turns and on the hairpin turns into steep uphill bursts even taking a pretty hard fall on one turn bruising my hip and knee. We definitely had more fun at Woodhill on our last mountain bike adventure.

Sanders Reserve Bike Park

Trail Map

We arrived at Muriwai Beach Motor Camp around 2 pm and got our campsite set up before riding down to the beach. We spent some time exploring and then cooked an early dinner of hotdogs in order to finish eating before the sunset. Watching the sunset on the beach was a perfect end to a great afternoon. We returned to the beach after dark to explore a little more and look at the stars. We had no luck identifying constellations but did spot two satellites. Although it was a little cold overnight, we stayed pretty warm bundled and cuddled up in our car.

First view of Muriwai Beach

View from the grill

Sunset over Muriwai Beach

Another sunset over Muriwai shot

It was so nice to wake up to a crisp morning with the sound of the ocean on the breeze. We packed up our site and had breakfast (eggs benedict and a scone...can you guess who had what?) at the nearby Sand Dunz Beach Cafe. We capped off our stay at Muriwai with a short hike up to a few different lookout points. The views were spectacular and if the number of surfers were any indication, the waves were as well.

Looking down over Muriwai Beach

To prove I was in fact on this trip...and yes, I am dressed like an eskimo while most Kiwi's were in shorts. To be fair this is at like 8 in the morning.

Morning at Muriwai

Waves crashing on the rocks

To prove Justin was on the trip

Looking down on Maori Bay

My First Camp Out (as an adult)

We spent three nights away on our Easter trip and decided to try out our new camping gear on the third night. We stayed at a campground on Blue Lake which was really nice and only a short drive from Rotorua. We set up our campsite consisting of our open tent, chairs, and bed inside our new Volvo wagon. We have an air mattress that fits perfectly in our wagon with the seats laid down and Justin and I can lay inside, side by side. We turned on the noise maker, cozied up with some blankets, and slept well. We could see the lake from our site and really enjoyed waking up to the fresh mountain air. The facilities at this site were pretty nice and I showered in the morning and everything! We wanted to buy some minimal camping supplies so we can spend a night or so at a time away from Auckland on the cheap. I had to caveat the title because I have camped in my life (maybe 2 times I can remember) but I was under the age of 20 so I'm not sure it counted.