Day 17: Whangamata & Karangahake Gorge
Eating out and saving lives
Our reason for visiting Whangamata was to go kayaking out to the famous Donut Island — known as Whenuakura in Te Reo. Unfortunately for us, the sea was too choppy and none of the rental places were hiring out kayaks. It was a shame because it’s supposed to be incredible in the middle of the doughnut. You enter by kayaking through a cave in the side and you’re greeted with a small paradise in the centre of the island.
Obviously, I’m only describing this from what I’ve read as we never went ourselves, but we were determined not to let that spoil our plans.
We started the day by treating ourselves and going out for breakfast. We went to Port Road Project because they had some vegan options, and we weren’t disappointed. Anna had a fancy bowl of granola, and I had a fancy glass of chia pudding.
As is usually the case for me, I could have eaten two or three of these before feeling full, but it did all taste great!
On our walk back to the van, we ambled past a typical seaside shop selling all sorts of beach-related items. At Anna’s suggestion, I got myself a bodyboard. Rather than splashing out on an adults’ one, I settled for the far cheaper kids’ board.
The cashier got me to confirm that I was buying it for myself because, in that case, I wouldn’t be able to return it if it snapped. Frankly, I was surprised that anyone would be able to return it at all after they’d snapped it, regardless of whether they were a kid or not. I accepted these terms and walked away with my new purchase under my arm.
The next thing we did was head straight to the beach so that I could try it out. We couldn’t visit Donut Island, but we could still enjoy the beach at Whangamata.
I’m pleased to announce that my kids’ board was more than up to the task of carrying my adult-sized body along on the waves.
After a relatively short time on the beach, we still had some driving and sight-seeing to do so we hit the road again. We had previously met a Belgian couple at the campsite in Cooks Beach, and we met up with them again for the next section. We found each other in Whangamata and drove on down to Karangahake Gorge.
The first stop in Karangahake was Owharoa Falls (pictured at the top of the post). It was a very nice-looking waterfall, and we could have gone for a swim but it was a bit overcast when we arrived.
Whilst taking some photos of the falls, I noticed a dragonfly was floating in the water, and because it wasn’t moving, I just assumed it was already dead. That was until Will — the other guy we were with — noticed it trying to move.
We couldn’t have her drowning on our watch so I hopped down the bank and gave her a hand. She looked big from up on the bank, but it turned out she was a lot bigger than we initially thought when we saw her up close.
I let her dry off on my hand for a bit before walking up into the bush a little way to let her go somewhere — hopefully — safe.
Moving down the road slightly, we made an unplanned visit to the Victoria Battery site. It used to be used to help mine for gold and silver, but all that remains now are the ruins of what once was.
This site was quite small so it didn’t take us long to make our way around it.
Karangahake Gorge is popular for its picturesque sections of river, and while we didn’t explore this too much, we did cross a small wooden suspension bridge to get to the battery site.
As the day came to a close, we drove to the Horahora Domain campsite near Matamata, but not before one final treat for the day: Domino’s! We made a small diversion en-route to grab ourselves some pizzas and cheesy garlic bread — all vegan, of course — before hitting the sack.
