#20 Northland & Raglan

In February Marketa and I took a trip up to Northland, which is the northern part of the north island - it's in the north, just north of everything else. And there's a lot of water around but also some land, so it is called Northland. It was the first area of NZ to be settled by Europeans.

We first went to Paihia, a really cute little beach town which serves as the gateway to the Bay of Islands. Marketa and I rented two kayaks to paddle out to some of the nearby islands. The beach was covered in paua shells (aka abalone).
I took lots of pictures of shells. Marketa practiced her strokes for Huka Falls.



I thought my grandma had paid me a surprise visit, but it wasn't her.

That night we had a romantic dinner complete with wine, candlelight, and the best seafood I've had in a long time. Unfortunately the wine didn't have exactly the effect I had hoped for and instead of hitting up the beach bars we went to sleep.

The next day we took a cruise through the bay and saw lots of dolphins.


We came to Motuarohia Island, which has two lagoons, and went snorkeling. I found an octopus, so that made my day.

It's fair to say that the water was pretty clear.
Then we walked up to the highest point on the island to see the gorgeous views.

We drove west across the peninsula and came to the twin towns of Opononi & Omapere. There was a huge sand dune across the bay. We wanted to slide down the thing but the sand was hot and we were feeling lazy about getting a ferry across.
The beach was so beautiful that we stayed there all day swimming and laying around. I couldn't believe there was hardly anybody there.


There were plenty of cool rocks to keep me busy for hours.

We took a second trip to Raglan, a renowned surf town on the west coast. It was an overcast day, but still wonderfully humid.

On the drive back we stopped by Bridal Veil Falls for some refreshments and to look at the waterfall.


New Zealand countryside.

I pulled over several times to get pictures of the sunset.