We awoke and showered early before the sink estate came to life. The morning view over the harbour was gorgeous though. After brekky we went to have a look at Rawene town. We parked up and went for a bit of a mooch around. On the surface it was very pretty in a picturesque location on the harbour and with lots of period buildings, however, it soon became apparent that something more sinister was lurking underneath the visual sheen. It was like a town from an episode of Scooby Doo. The locals had a sinister vibe to them. It was as if they were hiding some big secret and strangers were not welcome. The people stared and looked scary. We headed back to our 'mystery machine' and got the hell out of there. We headed further along the harbour to the Koutu Boulders. We had been informed that they were one of Hokianga's best kept secrets. We had been expecting boulders on the beach up to 3 metres in diameter and they were supposed to be absolutely amazing. We ended up disappointed on a tatty beach strewn with dirty rocks , feeling uneasy and not in the least bit amazed. This side of New Zealand is seriously weird and hillbilly. There was a menacing vibe in the air. We got the hell out of here too. From here we drove along the twisty road that worked it's way to the harbour's head at Opononi. This was a fairly commercialised and busy beach town and not our sort of thing. On the way out of Opononi though we followed a sign to a scenic lookout and came to the Arai Te Uru Recreation Reserve on the headland at the southern head of Hokianga Harbour. We had a spectacular view here across the harbour and along the coastline. We went for a walk along the top of the cliffs. The weather was hot and we soaked up the sun. We then grabbed some lunch in the camper van and continued along the winding and twisting road to the Waipoua Forest. When we left Arai Te Uru the scenery consisted of the usual rolling and verdant green hills but all of a sudden the road plunged us into the Waipoua Forest and a vastly different landscape. We were now in a very lush and beautiful sub tropical rainforest. The road wound it's way through magnificent stands of tall kauri trees. The forests of Waipoua make up the largest remaining tract of native forest in the Northland of New Zealand. Our first stop in the forest was to look at Tane Mahuta which is a giant kauri tree. It's Maori name means 'Lord of the Forest'. We followed a boardwalk through the magical forest to this great tree that was stood proudly within this beautiful and very spiritual feeling place. Although nowhere near as tall as the giant trees we had seen in Australia the girth of this tree was huge, 45.2 feet! It was beautiful and all knowing. Although it's age is unknown it is thought to be between 1,250 and 5,000 years old. From here we headed a little further along the incredibly twisting road to another parking area. We followed another path from here to the Four Sisters and to Te Matua Ngahere. It almost felt like we were back in Australia with the weather and rainforest vegetation being very reminiscent the rainforest's we had seen in Queensland. The Four Sisters were an impressive stand of four tall and graceful kauri trees that had grown extremely close together. Te Matua Ngahere is the second largest living kauri tree in New Zealand. This was a very wise and incredibly beautiful tree that is thought to be over 2,000 years old. The energy of these big trees pervades the forest. They know everything. Once back at the camper van we continued along the twisty road through the gorgeous rainforest. All of a sudden, though, the rainforest suddenly ended and we were back amongst rolling green hills reminiscent of the English countryside. Maybe the people and towns wouldn't be as weird this side of the forest. We could hope. We had intended to stop the night at Baylys Beach on the coast. Unfortunately this was a weird town and we didn't get a good vibe. We turned around and got the hell out. We carried along through Dargaville which is a big farming area and is known as the kumara capital of New Zealand. Kumara is the New Zealand name for sweet potatoes and they produce around two thirds of the country's crop in this area. After a perusal of our guide books we decided to carry on driving to Matakohe which is on the edge of the Kaipara Harbour. It was a lovely little place with period properties and it had a good vibe. The camp site was great and surrounded by cow fields. We chilled out for the rest of the day.