Tauranga Bay

Leaving Kerikeri, Bruce and I are travelling towards new territory for both of us, and we are glad to have Tina and John as tour guides. They have seen most of this area before.

To get to our next stop, we had to travel some of the most spectacular coastline that Northland has to offer. The scenery was magnificent, not so the roads. We encountered kilometer after kilometer of delaminating roads, and the real challenge of driving these roads in a motorhome is trying to find a path through the damage that will not shake the motorhome to bits!

Our first stop along the way was to Matauri Bay, one of the jewels in the crown of Northland, and a very popular stop for visitors. Therefore, it is frequently crowded, but not so much today, thankfully. The Motor Camp at the end looked very busy though, as you would expect for a Labour long weekend.

There was land used for logging all around Matauri Bay, and it was nice to see that some companies are acting responsibly and mulching the slash.

After a wander along the beach, and a bit of lunch, we headed back up the steep road to see more of the countryside. We didn’t get too far along before we came across a look out at the top of the hill, which gave amazing views over the islands nearby. You can also see more evidence of slash being mulched up.

Te Ngaere Bay was the next stop. Not many houses here as it is a bit more out of the way, but a lovely spot nonetheless.

Tauranga Bay was our final destination for the day and where we met up again with our co-travelers. We stayed in the motor camp there, and it was a fairly busy camp. We set up, with our three vans forming a U shape, underneath a big Norfolk Pine.

Our peace was disturbed by a couple of kids, maybe 8 and 9 years old, running around the cabins next door to our spot, yelling “fuck off” repeatedly, at the top of their voices. When a man from a nearby motorhome went to speak to them, they ran inside the cabin to hide. Parents were nowhere in sight. This went on for quite a while, and we wondered whether this was going to be a good place to stay.

Eventually though, a Maori man went up to the boys, and I was surprised to see them do exactly as he said, rather than running to hide. They quietened down immediately, and started moping around. The man then went further along the cabins until he found the parents and he sent them home to deal to the boys. He then came to us to apologise. The man turned out to be Eric Rush – ex All Black Captain. No wonder he had mana! What a lovely man he was! Our evening was peaceful from then on, and we were able to enjoy Tauranga Bay.