Mātauri Bay to Cape Rēinga/Te Rerenga Wairua
‘Here’s your chance to get off the beaten track, even if that sometimes means onto unsealed roads. The far-flung Far North always plays second fiddle to the Bay of Islands for attention and funding, yet the subtropical tip of the North Island has more breathtaking coastline per square kilometre than anywhere apart from the offshore islands. While the ‘winterless north’ may be a popular misnomer, summers here are long and leisurely. Note that parts of the Far North are noticeably economically depressed and in places could best be described as gritty.’ lonelyplanet.com
Before our Far North tour began, we pictured the Far North as remote and rugged, hot and wet and we weren’t disappointed. Compared to other far-off places we have been the to, such as the West Coast of Te Waipounamu/ the South Island, Te Tai Poutini. And of course outback Australia; there is nowhere more distant than there; the Far North isn’t really that faraway, but with it’s unsealed roads, lack of phone signal in places, roaming wild dogs and thick native bush, it certainly feels that way.
Take a look below at our youtube video covering this trip!
Mātauri Bay
We started our Far North trip with beaches, beautiful beaches for days. First stop, Mātauri Bay! What a bay! We had never seen such crystal clear waters on the North Island in New Zealand before Mātauri Bay. With over a kilometre of a white sand beach, we can imagine this bay being popular all year round. The area has a population of 218 folk, as of 2018 and we’ve heard that Matauri Bay Holiday Park does alright.
We spent the morning here, there is a large bitumen Day Use Area carpark, plenty of space for large vans and another highlight of this Bay was the Rainbow Warrior Memorial Walk, we found it easy but it is quite an incline up to the cliffs over Mātauri Bay with an elevation of 177ft and when you get up there you’re rewarded with beautiful views over the surrounding Bays and the Cavalli Islands.
And of course, the Rainbow Warrior Monument is up here. This is a sad story about the bombing of a Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior by the French, not too long ago, 1985!!! Find out more here!
HOT TIP: Mātauri Bay does have a holiday park there but it was quite expensive, so to save money, we headed to a POP about 30 minutes away (park over property). Called Bush Haven (by the sea), it is just $8 per night and on the driveway of our lovely host Ruve, overlooking the Whangaroa Harbour.
We spent the rest of the day checking out the easily accessible Bays, Kāeo, and Whangaroa county, which we definitely recommend doing before arriving at our NZMCA POP for the night.
Mangōnui
We then checked out little and lovely Mangōnui, staying at a freedom camp looked after by the Far North District Council, a very popular freedom camp, and having a nosey around the few but fun boutique shops and galleries.
Mangōnui, or Taipa-Mangōnui is a string of small resorty type settlements including Mangōnui, Coopers Beach, Cable Bay and Taipa stretching along beautiful Doubtless Bay. We checked them all out en-route, and completed a couple of easy bush walks on the way. Rangikapiti Pā Track and walks within the Taumarumaru Reserve.
Hot tip: Four Square in Coopers Beach is bigger, cheaper and better than the Four Square in Mangōnui.
A lot of friends and whanāu for sometime had been telling us of this very beautiful Bay tut North, we simply can’t miss… It was worth the hype!
Maitai Bay
Voted New Zealand’s number 1 beach at 100% Pure New Zealand and you can see why. Situated along the Karikari Peninsula, Maitai Bay is a heart shaped bay, with absolute white sands and crystal clear waters. Maitai Bay and just over the hill, Waitomo Bay both offer beautiful, clean beaches and great swimming, snorkelling areas, although we didn’t see too much when we tried out the snorkelling. It really is a picture perfect area, definitely worth a visit, however….
We stayed at the Maitai Bay DOC Campsite where our DOC Campsite Pass is valid and although we stayed for a good 4/5 nights relaxing and enjoying the Bay, the campsite itself was a bit of a let down.
On arrival, you meet a chap in an office, where you check-in and pay your fees if need be, bookings are required here. Not sure if the chap works for DOC, with a cat wondering in and out of the office?!? We found out there are two campsites here, top camp and bottom camp. We chose the bottom camp, as it was slightly more level than the top camp, and a lot less windy, but I’m afraid both campsites were quite run down, not very well maintained and the facilities were not very clean at all. Perhaps the chap in the office was meant to be looking after the place better, perhaps not, we’re not sure.
HOT TIP: Mosquitoes are prolific here in Maitai Bay which is never nice, but can’t be helped! Make sure you bring bug repellent, or buy some fly screens like ours to cover your doors! Our awesome custom screens are from a family owned business in Aussie, ‘Bug Mesh Screens Oz!’ We just couldn’t find the right ones in New Zealand nor to the quality we wanted. Colin was great to deal with and our screens were posted to us quickly and with no issues. If you want to check-out these screens, email sales@bugmeshscreensoz.com.au with the make, model, year of your van and the windows/doors you want screens for. Be sure to quote SALTYSKIN in the subject line to receive a 5% discount!!
The camp can be surprisingly noisy, with a few houses surrounding the bay who have dogs, which seemed to be barking to each other the whole time we were there. Quite a few locals come in and out of the bay and campsite, willy nilly throughout the day and night. It was a shame, as somewhere so special, should be looked after better we believe.
Tokerau Beach
What a freedom camp! We spent just two nights here but will be back. Online, Tokerau Beach is permanently closed, but after looking at recent comments on the WikiCamps and NZMCA app’s, we thought we’d check it out and we weren’t disappointed. There is still a DOC sign on entry to the campsite and signs at the beach confirming it is still open and it was just beautiful. There are also two signs saying ‘no dogs’, but we saw plenty of pet dogs too.
Absolute beachfront and just a short walk from Lake Rotopokaka (Coca Cola Lake). Due to the peat and tannins in the water, it seems to look a bit like Coca Cola! Hence the nickname. Tommy went for a swim and said that its pitch black underneath the surface and quite strange!
After a couple of nights back in relative civilisation, staying at the Awanui NZMCA Park and getting some well needed laundry done at Kaitāia, we headed North!!
Cape Rēinga/Te Rerenga Wairua
We decided to head straight North, no stops and it took us about an hour from Kaitāia to finally reach Cape Rēinga/Te Rerenga Wairua! We were really chuffed to finally get to one of the most Northern parts of Aotearoa, we had been talking about getting here for months before we left our jobs and home and it felt great! We had perfect weather too and it wasn’t that busy!
Cape Rēinga/Te Rerenga Wairua is the northwesternmost tip of the Aupouri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. In Māori, Te Rerenga Wairua means the leaping-off place of spirits. Reinga is the Māori word for underworld. Both refer to the Māori belief that the cape is the point where the spirits of the dead enter the underworld.
According to mythology, the spirits of the dead travel to Cape Reinga on their journey to the afterlife to leap off the headland and climb the roots of the 800-year-old pohutukawa tree and descend to the underworld to return to their traditional homeland of Hawaiki, using the Te Ara Wairua, the ‘Spirits’ pathway’. At Cape Reinga they depart the mainland. They turn briefly at the Three Kings Islands for one last look back towards the land, then continue on their journey.
The walk to the Lighthouse is an easy 10 minute one-way down hill stroll and is wheelchair accessible too, which is fantastic! Obviously it us uphill on the way back, but there are plenty of seats to enjoy the awesome views!
We also did some of the Te Paki Coastal Track to overlook Te Werahi, definitely worth the extra say hours return detour. Cape Rēinga was a real highlight of our Far North trip and we’re so glad we ventured there. Highly recommend!
Keep tuned for Part 2 of our Far North Trip, where we cover Tapotutopu to Broadwood!
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