Rosie and the Operator are back home in New Zealand for the summer and we are here, Up North, heading towards Pahia in The Bay Of Islands touring our own country of New Zealand!
It is pretty special, we have not holidayed a lot in our own country and have never been so far North! For the next four days we are basing ourselves in Paihia and will be travelling out on day trips visiting the historic towns of Kerikeri, Russell and famous sites like the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. These are all places where the first Europeans settled in New Zealand and where our countries history was born, only a mere 220 years ago.
Christmas at The Faraway 60km North of Whangarei
Fun times at The Faraway Dam
Rosie and The Operator hve flown from their home region of Taranaki to Auckland and then onto Whangarei, our travel companions on this trip are BJ and Gee and we spent a glorious Christmas Adventure at The Faraway with family. All good things come to an end and our Famz convoy is back at Whangarei airport where The Operator is picking up a rental car for the rest of our journey.
Welcome to Northland and the Bay of Islands! Gee is already in holiday mode….he does not have to go on the Hole in The Rock boat tour now…he has the souvenir photo, ‘been there’ and has seen The Hole….without having left the airport. Lol.
Ten of us are on this journey and our first scenic stop for a spot of lunch is at the beautiful Whangarei Falls. Rosie is surprised, these falls are so accessible! Normally in New Zealand you have to do a bit of physical work to access these beautiful locations that are normally hidden away along a narrow track in the bush after about a minimum 15 minute trek. Not so here, drive in, park the car, walk through a beautifully maintained park where we sat under a shady tree for a picnic lunch and listen to the rushing water of the falls. Then, walk over to a beautiful viewing balcony in the park and there it is, your first view of the falls from up high.
Rosie and The Operator were taking their customary two second selfie and were bombed by The Nieces and The CRO…this is going to be a fun holiday, its so nice to be travelling with others!
Follow a beautifully manicured and easy going path downhill you reach the base of the falls that tumbled and twinkled into the idyllic pool below. The scene was straight out of some magical hidden island movie. The falls were surrounded by bush and greenery on all sides and it looked amazing through the filtered light from the bushes.
This is The Crazy Famz! To good times ahead! The CRO took the pic with perfect precision and for so many people watching it was the quickest five second selfie ever and turned out perfect! That’s how you do it people!
Whangarei, itself is the Northernmost City in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland and sits in the mouth of a beautiful natural harbor. It has a population today of 58,000 and was founded by the Europeans in the 1820s. In the early days most of the early settlers fled this area during the Maori land wars and never returned until the 1850s when the town redevelopment was driven by the discovery of Kauri Gum and the native timber trade exploded.
Coal was also discovered and orchardists and farmers moved in, developing the area. The Kamo brick works was established and then with the discovery of limestone, the Portland cement factory burst into life. Marsden Point Oil Refinery is one of the biggest employers today and Whangarei is well established as the main service center for the Northland area. Rosie and The Operator, BJ and Gee wandered around colourful gardens of the marina area and popped into a few galleries and gift shops which were truly outstanding!
Sitting on the waterfront is a giant construction site where the new Hundertwasser Arts Centre is being built and is due to open this year. Its beautiful design will be a homage to the quirky Austrian artist Freidensreich Hundertwasser who lived and worked up the road. This delightful little taster sits in front and gives you up dates on how the project is going behind the construction paper. Rosie cannot wait to see this Arts Centre in real life when it is finished, the concept is amazing!
On the road to our base in Paihia which is an hour North of Whangarei we pulled off State Highway One for a comfort stop in Kawakawa. Everybody travelling this way does, and Rosie means everybody…Kawakawa’s claim to fame is having the most awesome and photographed toilets in New Zealand! True!
Go on admit they are pretty impressive. Designed and built by the aforementioned Austrian artist Freidensreich Hundertwasser who lived in Kawakawa from 1975 till his death in 2000 the loos are a symphony of colourful wonkiness with barely a straight line anywhere.
This lavatory block has been awarded a ‘Golden Plunger’ and voted the best toilet in the world by the travelling public. True as well! It is the only building designed by Hundertwasser in the Southern Hemisphere and had an attendant on duty when Rosie visited to give the stalls a once over in between each patron and you have to admit that is pretty outstanding service! Rosie has devised her own ranking and gives it a resounding 5/5 toilet roll rating.
This wee blip on the map which is Kawakawa is not just all about the toilets….it has a beautiful mural down a side street and has another claim to fame of being the only town in New Zealand that has a train line running through its Main Street and CBD.
The train line was used to transport coal back in the day but with the closure of the mines in the 1980s the tracks now only transport tourists on the weekends pulled by a beautifully maintained steam engine which leaves from the original Kawakawa train station. The Operator would like to add another claim to fame as having the most expensive milk ever purchased in New Zealand from its local Four Square shop. Milk? Yes, got to be able to put a brew on for The Gang when we get to our destination.
This quirky, small town on the main trunk line has seen better days but was pretty vibrant and bustling when we stopped for a wander….we are only 15 mins from Paihia, our stopover destination, Rosie cannot wait to get there!
The road traveled so far has not taken us near the coast and as we turn off to Paihia we catch a breathtaking glimpse of the beautiful turquoise bay dotted for as far as the eye could see with hazy green islands. What a sight to behold. This part of the country is so lush and green with native trees and bush growing right up to the roadside.
The main street of Paihia rolls along the shimmering waters edge and is lined with giant twisted pohutukawa trees that are flaming red with their bristly bottlebrush like flowers. Rosie just cannot keep her eyes off the twinkling water. So many boats are bobbing in the bay and the pale sand is lined with people enjoying the mid day sun. Older style wooden villas look out to sea from across the road and houses stretch up the green hillside behind the town.
Paihia is a 60km drive North from Whangarei and is known as the Gateway to the Bay of Islands and a great place to base yourself to see the main historic sites and take in all the action and adventure this area has to offer. The first Europeans settled here in 1823 and the town has only grown in small increments since then. Today there is 1700 permanent residents which swells to six times that number over summer with tourists and visitors. Rosie was quite shocked how expensive Paihia was for groceries and a few essentials that we bought for our holiday stay. It disappointed Rosie being a New Zealander knowing that these locals were fleecing tourists and ripping of fellow Kiwis who visited. Oh, well, Rosie, you knew that New Zealand has always been one of the more expensive places to travel around.
The town of Paihia is tidy, new, compact and neat. It has an incredible range of restaurants, cafe and bars plus a beautiful pier that is the main hub for tourist information and central to exploring the bays by ferry and boat.
The Operator is taking us up a steep hillside that overlooks the town, to a house we have rented called Tui Vista. We meet Vicki the owner who shows us around her beautiful home overlooking the bay. It is a real treat to be staying here, everything about it is perfect and as an added extra Gee has been put in charge of topping up the birdbath outside his bedroom window so that the Tuis, which the house is named after, don’t get grumpy when they come to bath in the morning and find it is low tide. They were a pleasure to watch in the morning and evening frolicking in the water of the birdbath. In total there were about four tuis that were regulars and they chased off quick smart any smaller interlopers that tried to use their exclusive bath.
The Rest of The Famz are staying just down the road in tents at the Waitangi Camp Ground. It is a beautiful spot as well with a prime location right on the edge of the bay looking out over the water, it is indeed Paradise!
As holidays en mass roll, you know they never run perfectly….PinkyFluff and Whipper forgot to pack towels for The Camping Famz….so everyone had to come and shower up at Tui Vista….it was crafty Rosie thinks….no communal showers full of gritty sand from the beach, no ques for the cubicles and no timed hot water. Rosie picked a dud Fish n Chip shop for tea, in her defense it was a recommendation (or a set up) by a local and now Paihia has the literal Award for the Worst Fish n Chips in New Zealand…..bonus….we did have the best view up at our place whilst we ate them.
We cant win em all but tomorrow we are off to visit The Waitangi Treaty Grounds and Kerikeri. We are all excited as it is everyone’s first time here and Waitangi is a very special and controversial place for us New Zealanders, and, we are looking forward to experiencing it first hand.
