Beaches, Whangarei and free camping

Heading south from Paihia, we took in a scenic drive around the Tutukaka coastline. This is the gateway to Poor Knights Island, one of the world's top dive sites. Sadly, this was not on the cards for us but we were still greeted with stunning coastline and beaches as we made our way to Whangarei.

You can just see Poor Knights Island in the photo above!

The van has a rest during a beach walk for Maddy.

Then it was on to the largest town in Northland, Whangarei. Just before we reached the town, we passed Whangarei Falls, the "most photographed waterfall in NZ", so we thought we'd just add to the statistic! You can kind of see why they're so popular.

Then it was on to Whangarei. It's quite a sprawling metropolis really, but it presented an opportunity for a free spot of camping. Consulting our bible again, we saw that there was free overnight parking allowed down by the river. Wanting to be sure about these things, we stopped at the i-site to make sure we were parking in the right area. Armed with this information, we set off.

The parking was right by the river basin marina, presenting a lovely backdrop. A nice boardwalk took us along to a cute cafe where we dined by the river. We were slightly concerned that we would have to break out the portapotty as the local lavs were supposed to close at 5.30pm. However we were very pleased to find that they remained open all night, removing the need for us to use our on board loo!

Not bad for a freebie, we thought...

A hidden gem

As Ian had been in the UK, and we'd only bought him flights back to Auckland, Annalie decided to drive up on the campervan to pick him up.

Now, it's not a short distance. And ads to that some Friday dinner time traffic, and some kiwi windy roads, and you've got a bit of a road trip. But a road trip it was.

Annalie had researched some places to stay, knowing that getting as far as Hamilton would be the absolute limit, and that somewhere a bit short of there would be more likely.

So she did a few searches and decided to aim for Mangaoweka Scenic Reserve. There is free overnight camping if you're self contained.

A mere 6.5 hours on the road and Annalie finally made it to this clearing in the middle of some woods. Seeing three other vans gave her some confidence that she'd be ok. So she found a quiet spot to park, set up the bed, opened the vent and set about getting some shut eye.

When she closed her eyes, she realised that a river was flowing nearby, and it was the only sound around. The next morning just proved what a picturesque little spot this was. A little hidden gem. And all for free. And so well kept.

It just reminded us what getting the campervan was all about.