It is tough at the Top

Hoping for more sunny weather in the Northland we drove through Auckland, over the Harbour Bridge (we'd be visiting this area in a few days) and headed north to Mangawhai Heads.Although definitely warmer up here the sun decided we wouldn't see it again and the next few days were cloudy.After a short walk along the beach and a stop for lunch at Waipu Cove we decided to settle near Tutukaka (opposite the Poor Knights Islands) in a campsite by a deserted beach.A beautiful setting for an evening stroll and breakfast the next morning (made even better by the hot water 'shower bag' Sam scored us!).

Onto Paihia, Harura falls and Kerikeri gave us more delightful views and beaches we's definitely would have stopped at in the sun.The highlight probably being the chips we picked up on the way to the next campsite to have with our beans!

Despite being hideously over budget on fuel it was decided that if we've come this far we may as well go the whole way so we cruised through Kaitaia and up to the Far North and the Te Paki giant sand dunes.We couldn't be bothered to drag a board up the enormous sand dunes just to slide back down so we settled for climbing up them and walking along the steep sides - pretty much sand as far as you could see and still no closer to the sea the other side.

After camping up for another night we started heading back down to Hokianga harbour.It had been a while since a decent walk, so we set off along the coastal path with fields on one side and crashing waves with sand dunes to the other.It was pretty much blowing a gale, which I blame for pushing me over so I half fell in a bog - another wet foot and yet again I had to be dragged up by Sam who yet again stopped to take photos and laugh at me.We stopped off to see the Lord of the Forest - New Zealand's biggest Kauri tree with a girth of 13.8m - impressive.

By this point, as we settled in a Regional Park for the night, we were looking forward to reaching Auckland and heading somewhere sunny again (plus camping somewhere with a hot shower).

Liz