Days 8–9: Tokerau Beach, Maitai Bay & Waikato Bay
Basically, all the beaches
From Waitangi, we made our way to our first beachfront campsite of the trip: Tokerau Beach. Woolleys Bay was almost a beachfront campsite but you couldn’t actually see the beach from the van; it was just over a rise, so I’m not counting that one. This wasn’t the case for Tokerau.
It was a little on the windy side when we were there, but we took shelter on the leeward side of the van which did the job. Besides, a strong wind keeps the mossies away.
In the morning I went for a pre-breakfast swim, before enjoying brekky with a view.
Once we were ready, we set off for the day. The first stop was just outside the campsite and, although officially known as Lake Rotopokaka, it’s more commonly known as Coca Cola Lake. The tannins in the region give the lake a crimsony-orange colour.
Whilst having a paddle, we got talking to a local bloke called Brian who was there with his dog, Meg. We chatted about NZ and the UK — his wife is from the UK — and as we said our goodbyes, he gave us his address and told us that we’d be more than welcome to stop by for a hot shower. As kind as this gesture was, we didn’t end up taking Brian up on his offer for two reasons, 1) we already had our solar shower heating up in the sun, and 2) Brian seemed far too nice to be genuine so we assumed he and his wife must be serial killers.
If you’re reading this Brian and you’re not a serial killer, then we apologise. If you are a serial killer though, then what can I say? These are two backpackers that you won’t be enjoying with a glass of Chianti.
After Coco Cola Lake, we drove to Maitai Bay.
The beach was great, and the rocks made a natural breakwater that made a natural lagoon of calm water. Unfortunately, the very fine sand, coupled with the strong breeze, made it difficult to relax on the beach.
Fortunately, after a bit of exploration, I managed to find a little cove on the opposite side of the headland in Waikato Bay.
It had sun; it had shade, and amazingly, it was empty! I couldn’t quite work out why nobody else was using the spot, but we weren’t complaining.
I enjoy relaxing on the beach, but I tend to get a bit restless after a while, so it wasn’t long before I was off exploring.
I noticed a wooden post in the treeline next to the beach that looked like it marked a path and decided to investigate. It turned out that it went straight up through the bush and into the heart of the headland: Karikari Peninsula. It wasn’t a well-trodden path, but I definitely wasn’t the first person to follow it either.
It forked off in a few places, some of them ending in beautiful dead-ends.
Eventually, I went as far as I could go and was rewarded with some great views of the surrounding coastline.
I also knew that I was following in someone else’s tracks when I stumbled across a geocache.
Funnily, Anna and I used to do a lot of geocaching and would usually struggle to find the caches, so I was pleased to come across one by accident.
After convincing myself that I’d seen all I was going to see, I thought I’d better make my way back to Anna before she started worrying about where I was — I hadn’t told her where I was going and the path went on for a lot longer than I’d imagined.
I made my way back down from the headland and was almost back to the beach when I stupidly managed to injure myself. I managed to catch my heel on a sharp stump as I was stepping over it — yes, I was doing this barefoot and no, I probably haven’t learnt from my mistake, Mum.
I hobbled back down to the beach and washed my foot off in the salt water — ouch! — before inspecting the damage. There was quite a bit of blood. It turned out that I’d managed to carve out a chunk of skin from my heel…
Fortunately, I was trained as a first-aider in my last job and, although that certificate had since expired, that one day of being repeatedly taught both the ABC acronym and how to perform CPR on a dummy had fully prepared me for this moment.
One wound wipe and two plasters later, and I was as good as new. I couldn’t get all of the dirt out, but I figured I’d just fold the flap back down anyway and let my body do its thing.
With that eventful ending to the day, we went back to Tokerau Beach again to enjoy a lovely, warm solar shower and to camp for the night.
