After leaving New Plymouth it was time to start slowly heading home to Auckland and our oldest son’s birthday celebrations. These days driving that distance in one day is not beyond me but something I would rather not and have no need to do. We planned to break the journey into three spending the first night back where we started in Otorohonga and then find a destination close to Auckland for the second night before heading home.
Heading up the highway it was interesting to see the changes to the road since we last came this way. They have now completed the project bypassing the old single lane tunnel that used to be such a feature of this road near Awakino. The second set of works, a bypass of Mt Messenger was still in full swing. Both of these major roadworks will combine to make the drive easier, but it’s still not a route I enjoy driving. I will probably upset a few people but find the road rather soul-less and uninteresting. Reaching Otorohonga almost felt like a homecoming and the perfect place to just blob out after the drive. Yet again the motorhome was surounded by a heavy frost in the morning. A sure sign that winter was still to loosen it’s grip.
We had a bit of a debate in the morning about where to spend the last night of this road trip. I must confess to an ulterior motive on my suggestion of the NZMCA Park in Kaiaua. It’s right next door to some of the best fish and chips in New Zealand and my mouth was salivating at the thought. But as Sarah rightly pointed out, we had stopped there a number of times recently and it was time to explore somewhere new. Or at least somewhere different.
We decided to spend the last night of this trip at Waitawa, part of the Auckland Regional Parks network and one with a little used camping area. Probably because instead of being down by the beach where most people would prefer to stay you are perched on the top of the hill a couple of kilometres away from the action. However if you are reasonably fit and able I would not let this deter you as the park is covered with walking and cycling tracks. You would need to be fit and able as motorhomes are forbidden on the road down to the beach. So walking or cycling are pretty much the only options to get down there. It’s narrow and quite steep in places so it can be a bit of a workout getting back to your van. Maybe that’s why its not a very popular camping area.
I mention that the camping area seems little used because we no sooner had the van parked up than one of the rangers appeared to check on us. I think he might have been concerned either we had driven through the open gate to the camping area and maybe not pay. Or that we were going to drive the motorhome down to the beach. We managed to allay his fears by letting him know that we intended to stay and had the code for the gate having paid online😬. With the park ranger sorted it was time to put the tramping boots on and explore the area.
The main tracks are all colour coded and also serve as mountain bike tracks. What we didn’t realise until we reached the end of the first track is that they also had a oneway system and we were walking the wrong way around. Luckily we managed to complete our large circuit (around eight kilometres) without meeting any cyclists as the tracks can be very narrow in places. It would not have been fun coming around a corner to face a cyclist at full speed coming towards you down some of the steeper hills.
We weren’t sure of tramping boots would be needed but it soon became apparent they were essential as the track we had chosen became a quagmire in places. Yet in others a bone dry track or well formed metal pathway lay in front of us. Overall a very pleasant walk. And as you can see from the photos undertaken in lovely weather.
There are just so many different things to see and do here at Waitawa. In the warmer months, when we have been here, lots of people have been either out, under or on the water. Enjoying the crystal clear sea although the beach is rather tidal. There are a number of picnic spots along the huge beach and council provided BBQ’s that can be used without cost. Like all council parks this is a pack in pack out facility so it was dissapointing if not unusual to see rubbish, left behind, surrounding a few of these areas.
The wharf here dates back to the 1950’s when Waitawa was the base for ICI Chemicals and they stored and unloaded explosives here. Due to the potential dangers and of unloading in downtown Auckland and some very concerned local residents this purpose built facility was constructed. It operated for many years before closing in the 1990’s and becoming part of the Park network in 2004. Everytime we come here we always encounter a number of people fishing from the wharf. But we have never, in the many times we have visited, seen anyone actually catch a fish.
Waitawa is a working farm, as are all of the regional parks in Auckland and lambing was in full swing during our visit. Seeing the little faces peeking out from behind tree stumps, long grass or hidden by their mothers was a very enjoyable part of the walk. Probably one of my favourite times of the year.
Looking at the photos I took, I don’t think I really managed to capture the essence of the camping area here. Perched on top of the hill is a large sealed area that is gated and seperated from the rest of the park. Signage requests that you back into a spot which you might be a little disappointed with if you had a rear facing lounge. But if like us your lounge is in the front it sits facing some spectacular coastal views. It could possibly get a bit exposed to the wind here, however if it was as empty as the day we visited you could easily tuck behind one of the embankments. A great spot to stay complete with your own rather unused and unloved picnic table.
With the walk completed and the sun setting we settled in for a quiet night. A good chance to reflect on the last couple of weeks and our winter road trip. If you asked me to pick a favourite spot, I would have a great deal of difficulty sorting one out. Even our stay in Marton for which the surrounds didn’t offer as much as some of the other places we visited, it still had a wonderful NZMCA Park. If it wasn’t for the boy racers I would have said Lake Rotomanu in New Plymouth. Or the nature reserve at Rotokare with no phone signal. Just proving that all have something to both add and detract from their location. Whatever the reason for or against we will be back at a different time of the year to again explore these areas. New adventures begin in Coromandel in the next blog.
To view the places we have visited click here to see them on Google maps. You can then click the link to read the blog about that area.
Licenced To Retire 
I was delighted to see you’re still blogging! I’ve been away from WordPress for far too long, so it was lovely to come back and find your posts still here. Looking forward to catching up on what I’ve missed of your travels.
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