3 minute read
Explore Kauri Coast & the Kaipara District
YOU’RE NEARLY AT THE TIP OF THE TOP BUT NORTHLAND KEEPS GETTING BETTER.
Travelling through the Kauri Coast/Kaipara District, you’ll pass the many inlets and tributaries of New Zealand’s largest harbour, the Kaipara. The area is renowned for its major kauri industry and shipping.
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Kaihū played an important part in the Northland’s kauri-logging boom. It was here the trees were logged and sent to Dargaville. Today there is an art and craft gallery dedicated to all things kauri, including furniture.
Trounson Kauri Park was named after Edmund Trounson who died helping others in the 1918 flu epidemic. Edmund’s father, James Trounson, made the park a reserve back in 1890. The area is now 586ha and home to beautiful kauri trees and rare creatures like kauri snails, bats, weta and kiwi.
If you’re visiting areas with Kauri trees, please remember Kauri Dieback Disease riddles many of our kauri trees, eventually killing them. There is no cure so please clean your gear before and after visiting kauri areas to prevent extinction. You can check which tracks are open at www. doc.govt.nz
Who needs Tahiti when there’s Kai Iwi?
Kai Iwi Lakes
Peter Burchell
Kai Iwi Lakes, in Taharoa Domain glisten in hues usually associated with exotic islands, with ice-white sands slipping into a big bath of blue. Pitch a tent at either Pine Beach or Promenade Pt campground and pull a few pre-made mojitos out of your chilly bin. Tahiti/Taharoa: the only difference is the price tag.
Baylys Beach
Baylys Beach
Destination Northland
Fun fact! The longest driveable beach in New Zealand is Ripiro Beach (beating the more famous Ninety Mile Beach by an entire 12km) and Baylys Beach is by far your best access point. If you’re not here for a drive, the rips are powerful and better suited to surfers than swimmers, but the long stretch of sand is brilliant for long strolls, horse treks and sunset picnics.
Jumbo Kauri Giant: Tāne Mahuta
Read all about Aotearoa’s largest living kauri tree on page 5 of the e-book
Kauri tree, Tāne Mahuta
David Kirkland
Darn good DARGAVILLE
Dargaville grows good kūmara, and that’s because it’s kūmara capital of the world. It's also proud of its kauri felling and gum-digging history. The Woodturners Kauri Gallery is home to master woodturner, Rick Taylor, and next door’s takeaway serves great hot chips. You’re also on the doorstep to some fantastic beaches, including Ripiro Beach for fossicking and Baylys Beach for sporty activities such as quad biking, kite surfing and surf casting. If calmer waters are more your thing, Kai Iwi Lakes is an enormous nature-made pool perfect for swimming, water skiing and fishing in the sun. Your enormous pineapple shaped lilo certainly won’t look out of place here, either.
Matakohe
Te Rau Puriri Regional Park, Kaipara
Getty Images
A lovely little town set on an estuary at the upper reaches of the Kaipara Harbour, Matakohe is conveniently placed for exploring the mid-North’s scenic attractions. It lies a short distance from three boat ramps, with several golf courses, great walks and scenic drives nearby.
The Kaipara Harbour is famed for its great fishing – drop a line off the wharf to catch your dinner. The town has several bush reserves nearby and two cafés where it’s easy to while away the entire afternoon.
The early pioneers set up home at Matakohe and the Matakohe Kauri Museum tells the story of the golden years of kauri logging and gumdigging.
Matakohe is also where the country’s first elected New Zealand-born Prime Minister, Joseph Coates, was born. The Coates Memorial Church was built and named in his honour and is now one of the town’s main attractions.
The Kauri Museum
Whangārei District Council
