A kiwi farewell 🥝

From Whangarei Heads we drove up to the Karikari peninsula to another DOC campsite right by the beach at Maitai Bay. It was getting on so we only had time for a stroll on the beach before dark, luckily we love strolling on beaches. We woke to pigs in the field and a sheep that liked a fuss! 

We started the day with a walk out to the headland, taking the binoculars to search for any marine activity but nothing to report. We managed to stay dry but it rained for the rest of the day, which was okay as we were mostly travelling anyway. We stopped for the night at a campsite in Pukenui, one of my favourite types of campsite, one with cats! 

Next stop, Cape Reinga! The most northerly point in NZ. Before you get there you pass Te Paki sand dunes, a huge set of sand dunes as far as the eye can see. As the sun happened to be shining and the temperature in double digits we did a bit of sand boarding. It was initially terrifying but super fun when you get going. 

After, we made it up to Cape Reinga lighthouse, right up on the North tip, and then to our next beach side campsite for another beach stroll before the rain began. We sheltered from the rain in Hades, playing exploding kittens, a game we picked up for about $2 in a charity shop back in Alice Springs in Aus, which has turned out to be very useful for passing some time. When it got dark a couple of pick-ups came through the camp searching for possums in trees with very bright torches, we even saw them shoot one down nearby. It didn't feel very legitimate, it was a DOC camp and these people were shooting very close to other campers. 

We had an awful night with rain hammering on the roof of the car but our spirits were lifted by one our favourite NZ activities, visiting Pak'n'Save, where Tim Tams were on sale for $1!

With just 2 nights left in Hades the campercar we had planned to use them on a final push to get a good sighting of a wild kiwi. This took us to Trouson Kauri Park where they are often spotted. There is a lovely forest loop walk showcasing wonderful old Kauri trees which we did in the light and would do again once dark. 

As soon as darkness fell you could hear plenty of kiwi calls, a good sign. A loud close one caused us the drop everything whilst cooking tea and head into the undergrowth. We were out initially for about 2 hours with no luck again, we popped back to base for a cuppa and then tried again. Just a couple of minutes into the forest walk we heard the rustling nearby and knew one was there, a little bit of patience and searching with the red light and it appeared next to the path. It shuffled about a little and then wandered out of sight, we were sooo happy! We also spotted plenty of huge Powelliphanta snails which we had to be careful not to step on, but that wasn't too hard as we were moving so slowly on our kiwi hunt. 

We had a slow morning as we'd been up late into the night and decided to still head to the other potentially kiwi spotting location, Tawharanui Regional Park. I wished we'd got there sooner, it was lovely. We had to spend some time getting our bags packed up and giving Hades a clean but we then had a good walk along the beach and a through some forest and fields. 

Once the sun had set we set out on another kiwi search. Reviews of the campsite said that they do just walk through so it was hard to know where to look, but we started walking the parameter. It took a while again but we found one! We stood exceptionally still for a good 20 minutes watching it forage about, it was wonderful and definitely our best sighting to date. We headed back to Hades and got the kettle on and there was a new bird call coming from the tree right next to us. Head torches back on, we spotted a morepork sat there hooting away. It's a small brown owl named after its call which does sound like its saying 'more pork'. We couldn't believe it! We could definitely go to bed happy. 

We were up early as we wanted to pop into Auckland before saying goodbye to Hades and getting checked in at our hotel by the airport. I'm sat in our room in Auckland Airport Kiwi Hotel now writing this and trying to get all our stuff into our backpacks. The hotel has a huge kiwi bird on the roof which would have definitely rubbed salt in the wound if our recent kiwi searches hadn't been so successful! 

I'll write another blog to wrap up whilst we're travelling back across the world tomorrow. I'll certainly have time, its 35 hours altogether with about 10 hours of that sat in airports! 

Lots of love,

Lisa and Matt 💕