Our trip to the far north has few words to describe the beauty of the landscape, the crystal clear blue waters, and the power of Mother Nature. Frank continues to do an awesome job with driving on the left hand side...with winding roads and single lanes bridges (picture pending), rain and wind. We drove through our first rain storm and strong winds as we finished up in Whangarei (Wh is an F sound) and headed further north to Paihia and onward.

Paihia is a touristy little town not far from Russell, the original capital of New Zealand, and Kerikeri. We stayed just outside of Kerikeri, close to puketi forest which has lots of walking tracks and Kauri trees. Kauri trees are native to New Zealand’s northland and were originally used for building boats, carving and building houses, they rival the redwoods of the west coast in size/height. The tree gum was originally used to start fires, and is now a varnish for wood, when it’s hardened and polished...it looks like amber. Our highlight in Paihia was the boat tour of the bay of islands. The hole in the rock and dolphins along with the various islands were awesome...the water was calm and the sun shining.

Our trip headed further north to Ahipara, where we caught the cape runner tour to Cape Reigna along 90 mile beach (not really 90 miles, really 64 miles, but who’s counting). The tour drives on 90 mile beach and stops along the way for some sand boarding on the dunes. Yes...we both did some boarding (no worries mum...all good!). We start our route south again tomorrow...more to come!