DARGAVILLE/ TAKIWIRA & SURROUNDS
DON’T FORGET TO WATCH THE YOUTUBE EPISODE FOR THIS BLOG BELOW
DARGAVILLE/ TAKIWIRA
How awesome is Dargaville/Takiwira. We had been through Dargaville/Takiwira once before, in 2021 en-route to an AirB&B somewhere around Donnellys Crossing, before #vanlife. Never really paid any attention, and you don’t really hear about Dargaville/Takiwira, as a place to visit or spend any time in. Well, we’re telling you now to go and explore and enjoy.
We stayed at the Dargaville NZMCA Park right on the Wairoa River. Great spot, really well looked after, we saw custodians pretty much every day having a tidy, water, bins, loads of space and a funky barn, to hang out in and enjoy happy hour with fellow members.
We primarily wanted to stay in more civilisation for bit to sort out our tyres, the new all-terrain tyres we’ve been after for so long. After even more research we found the ones we wanted and got in touch with Bridgestone, Dargaville. By the next day they had them in and fitted, and Tom got to work on sanding and spraying the rims! Find out more about our tyres, wheels and van upgrades on our Vanlife page.
Dargaville is situated on the banks of the Northern Wairoa River. This river has to be one of the largest (and brownest) rivers we have ever seen. The area around it is one of the chief regions in the country for cultivating kumara and so Dargaville is known by many locals as the Kumara Capital of New Zealand.
The town itself is quite busy with lots of the usual shops. We found ourselves hitting all of the op shops for any thing that took our fancy- normally nothing. Thanks Dargaville Council, who have dedicated large vehicle parking spaces with easy access to the high street.
We leave Dargaville and then return to visit the fantastic museums later on…
POUTO
After getting our tyres, and a day before Christmas, we decided to head somewhere quiet and out of the way. We chose Pouto Marine Hall Campground on the Pouto Peninsula.
The Pouto Peninsula is itself a huge mound of sand. Features include huge dunes, fresh water lakes and valleys. The scenery changes regularly as the wind reshapes the dunes. An area just offshore is called The Graveyard, because of the many ships that were wrecked here (around 150 vessels). In certain tidal and sand conditions, the remains of wrecks may be partially exposed offshore or in the sand.
The campsite is a small grassed area cared for by the local community. It has lovely sea views from a few spots, a nearby swimming beach, fishing and great 4×4 driving on the beach. Unfortunately we found the hosts were quite rude which wasn’t nice, maybe they were having a bad day!
We met a lovely couple called Maeghan and Holly who we had many Christmas drinks with!
BAYLYS BEACH
Next we headed to Baylys Beach, a beach and a settlement.
Part of Ripiro Beach; it is the longest driveable beach in New Zealand! There is a short clifftop walkway from the beach front which takes in several features and beautiful gorges. We highly recommend this.
This coast has seen many shipwrecks over the years. You can imagine why, the ocean is very rough. The beach is stunning and seems to go on forever!
The beach may have been named after an early settler named Bayly who owned 20 km of the shoreline.
From here we headed five minutes down the road to Northern Waitoa Golf Club who have an awesome camp spot on the top of a hill with amazing views in every direction. It was lovely to be able to see the sea, all the golfers playing on the immaculate course, and lots of rolling hills. This stop is just $10 per night paid to the golf course and there are even hot showers and toilets open all the time.
MUSEUMS
Back to Dargaville we stopped at the Kaipara Heritage Machinery Museum. Known as the ‘jewel on the hill’ and built overlooking the stunning view of the Northern Wairoa River and Dargaville Township.
This place collects and restores old tractors and machinery once used by the pioneers of Kaipara. This place has so much to see and if you like seeing old machinery and vehicles then we highly recommend this experience. They also now have a Marine Collection which is worth a look too!
Our next stop was the Dargaville Museum / Te Whare Taonga o Tunatahi, located right next to the Machinery Museum. We were greeted by Ross and Nick who gave us an awesome introduction to the museum. The museum is run by volunteers and once again there is lots to see.
Dargaville Museum tells the fascinating stories of the Kauri Coast: from early Maori life represented by the 16-metre pre-European waka, the replica gumdiggers camp, shipwreck relics recovered from Ripiro Beach to the masts of the ill-fated Greenpeace protest ship, the Rainbow Warrior.
There is also a Park over Property located next to the museum which is only $12 per night and has a dump station and toilets.
TOKATOKA PEAK
After our fun at the museums we headed to our new friends Christina and Marius who live in Tinopai on a beautiful lifestyle block overlooking the Kaipara Harbour.
After a lovely evening, in the morning we headed to Tokatoka Peak. A short but strenuous walk to the top. This outlandish mountain, like something from a fantasy landscape, is actually a rare phenomenon – it’s the plug of an ancient volcano. The material around the plug has eroded over time, leaving only the hardened lava core.
The views from the top are just amazing
WAI WORRI COUNTRY MUSTER
Our last stop for the year was in the middle of nowhere, well it felt like it at least. An old woodshed, and large open fields mark the site. Every year, at a place called Aranga, a festival is held called the Wai Worri Country Muster. It’s three days of music and dancing to old school country, performed live by talented local artists.
This year it fell over New Years eve and day which was great. We were the youngest people there by about 20 years but this did not matter and we met some great people and made new friends.
Tom joined in with a Ukulele band in a couple of jamming sessions which was so much fun. We both got up and danced a few times.
The event only costs $30 per adult for the whole event over several days, including camping in the adjacent field. All proceeds are for charity so this made the whole event much more special.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE