John Potter's Blog

Mokihinui River and Specimen Hut

The next hut from Mokihinui Forks is only an hour or so down the trail, so we had planned an expedition without packs to explore the North Branch of the river.
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Goat Creek to Mokihinui Forks

Back on the cycleway, we made pretty good time following the South Branch of the Mokihinui river down to Mokihinui Forks.

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Stern Valley to Goat Creek

There are a couple of kilometres of cycleway either side of Stern Valley hut, but it wasn’t long before we were back on a tramping-only route leading straight through the bush.
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Ghost Lake to Stern Valley

In the morning, the valley below the hut was filled with cloud, but up where we were the sun was shining brightly.
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Lyell Saddle to Ghost Lake

As we were making breakfast in the Lyell Saddle Hut, we watched six kaka flying over the valley below us.
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Lyell Saddle – Old Ghost Rd

When it is finished (supposedly late 2015), the Old Ghost Road from Lyell to Seddonville will be one of New Zealand’s premier mountain bike rides. We decided to walk over it before it becomes infested with cyclists.

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Rocky’s Goldmine Trail

We spent the last night of our Anniversary Day holiday camped on the edge of the Firth of Thames at Little Waikawau Bay. We had a swim before dinner, but the water is pretty shallow, and the “beach” was stony and not easy to walk on in bare feet.
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Waiwawa River

On Sunday the wind was forecast to be a bit stronger than the day before, so we thought about kayaking from the Ferry Landing at Cooks Beach into Whitianga Harbour. One look at the choppy current rushing past the wharf made us think again, and we decided to head further inland and have a play in the Waiwawa River.
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Hauhei to Hot Water Beach

Commercial kayak tours south of Hauhei are promoted as “remote coast”, and only leave in the mornings before the wind gets up. We were on the beach ready to go soon after 8.30 am, so we had a chance to talk to the tour guide before any of his customers arrived. He told us to beware of hidden reefs, and to check out caves carefully before paddling inside. Most importantly, he drew a map on the sand to show us where to find the ‘blow hole’.
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Cathedral Cove

By the time we loaded the kayaks and all our gear into the camper-van it was nearly midday. We were keen to get down to Coromandel as soon as we could, so I drove until we reached the top of the hill on the Kopu – Hikuai road where I knew there was a nice spot to stop for lunch.
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Picnic dinner at Silverdale

I’d got my heart set on a kayak yesterday evening, so even though the weather looked a bit dodgy we loaded the boats on the car and drove up to Stillwater about an hour before high tide.

By the time we were ready to unload, it was bucketing down, but since it was warm and no wind we decided to head up the Weiti river anyway.
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Lake Maraetai and Mangakino Creek

The last day of our summer holiday turned out to be the best adventure of the trip, despite being immediately followed by the biggest hassle.
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Piripiri Bridge, Pohangia River

We probably chose one of the quietest nights of the year to camp beside the Manawatu River, at the eastern end of the gorge. We did hear a couple of trains go past, but almost no trucks. Continue reading Piripiri Bridge, Pohangia River

Kiriwhakapapa Road End

When we first pulled in to this DOC reserve on the edge of the Tararua mountain range, I though we might have the place to ourselves, but then we saw three or four other groups of campers tucked in among the bushes.
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Castle Point

It has been a while since we woke up to the sound of traffic, but surfers and fishermen get started early, and the beach below the DOC carpark at Castle Point is used by both.
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Te Angiangi Marine Reserve

The free camping area at Pourerere Beach is right beside a dusty road with lots of traffic, so even though it had a nice sea view we only stayed long enough for a cup of tea.

The next beach south is at Aramoana, and it turned out to be one of the most interesting places on this section of coast. There is only space for three vehicles at the far end of the carpark, but because it is at the end of a long no-exit road we had it all to ourselves, much to our surprise.
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