First stop, a familiar name

Our actual first stop was Auckland to visit friends and drop off a surfboard with them.

But when it came to hitting the road to the Coromandel, a vague plan had to be formed.

Armed with the NZMCA Travel Directory, we looked up an good place for a first venture onto the peninsular.

It looked like Thames would work for us. A perusal of local sites led us to a simple but cheap place right in the heart of the town.

An old WW1 memorial, set high up on a hill gives a great vantage point to look out over the Firth of Thames and across to the Auckland coastline across the way. As well as the town itself. What there is of it!

Up the West Coast

Our journey north took us up the West Coast as we criss crossed the country from Mangawhai. On the way through, we consulted a magazine feature about the best things to do in Northland, and we found ourselves climbing Tokatoka Peak. Just a short, but sharp, climb from the neighbouring road, the peak afforded us panoramic views of the surrounding land and river, although it was a pretty murky day.

Maddy wanted to play "King of the Castle" while up the top, but as it was a pretty windy day, we feared that she'd get blown away. So I kept her on the lead while Ian checked out the full view.

Then it was on to Dargaville, our night's stop. Since we've joined the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA), we have access to a huge directory of thousands of cheap/free camping sites throughout the country. Another perusal of our new bible directed us to Dargaville Museum, high up on a hill above the "city". Here the charge was just $10. No power, but a toilet and, what turned out to be, a private campground! For the second night running we were on our own!

On our way up to the museum, we'd spotted a frisbee golf course. Now as we'd familiarised ourselves with this sport on our first visit to NZ, we keep frisbees in the van, for just such an opportune moment!

We were also able to look back at the peak we had just climbed. Tokatoka is quite distinctive as the very pointy hill on the right hand side.

Dargaville Museum is also home to the masts of the Rainbow Warrior. The Greenpeace ship was sunk off the Bay of Islands in 1985, but the Museum's owner negotiated the transferral of the masts to his nautical-themed exhibit.

Xmas tiki tour

We've started our Xmas tiki tour in the camper. With the plan to head north of Auckland for the first time, Ian decided to get a head start with Maddy and drive up there before Annalie finished work on Friday. Then Annalie caught a flight up to be reunited with them.

On Saturday morning, we set off from our campsite in south Auckland and took a slow drive into new territory. First stop was a village called Warkworth, which we'd been advised was pretty and had a lovely little cafe for a lunch overlooking the river.

Then it was on to Leigh and the Goat Island Marine Reserve. A specialist diving and snorkelling area, due to its Reserve status. All kinds of marine life flourish here. Sadly we couldn't make the most of that as dogs aren't allowed in the Reserve and we didn't want to leave Maddy in the van for long. So we quickly took in the view and then went back to seek some more pet friendly locations.

A quick perusal of the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (yes, we are old farts!) travel directory pointed us towards a campsite near Mangawhai. A quick call confirmed availability and off we went. Not only was there availability, but we were the only ones at the campsite! It felt very secluded for us!

Signs at the campsite directed us on a walk through the forest towards the beach. It wasn't an easy walk, being covered in sand, but it led to a fabulous sandy beach that is good for surfing and body boarding. We will make a note of that for future reference!

Maddy isn't a big one for the surf so she reluctantly got her feet wet, whereas we both enjoyed a paddle in waters that are an awful lot warmer than Wellington!