Tokatoka Peak, Kaiwaka and Clarks Beach
We’re playing a little bit of catch up in posting to our blog right now, in the last couple of weeks we’ve packed in so many things, so many hours of work and walking and exploration, it’s been hard to find the time to write anything down. We spent the long Easter weekend hiding away in a beautiful wooden cabin, just outside of Kaiwaka on the North Island. Run by a couple of permaculture enthusiasts, we were able to wander around freely through their food forest, gardens and play fetch with their beautiful but demanding dog Pip. Up north they’re able to grow anything from stone fruit like apricots and peaches to avocados and bananas! The cabin itself was gorgeous - warm and inviting, we took the opportunity to explore some of Northland while we could have this place as our basecamp.
Kaiwaka itself is quite small, though there’s a couple of spots worth checking out. The Dutch Cheese Shop springs to mind immediately, after all I am primarily motivated by food. Smoked Gouda, Goats Cheese and Stroopwafel acquired, I was as happy as a pig in mud! During what we like to call our ‘brute force navigation technique of exploration’ we came across rather a large and unsual shape on the horizon. It turned out to be Tokatoka Peak, with a lookout walk to the top that I was assured would be 15-20 minutes. No biggie. Well damn, it was a lot of effort. My deepest apologies to the French couple who had to witness me pulling myself up the last few rocks, scrambling, puffing and red faced, trying not to throw up from the effort! Well worth it for the view at the top though.
After our time in Northland, we wound our way back through Auckland and south a little, to a small beachside area called Clarks Beach and Waiau Pa. Having learned our lesson on our way up past Auckland going the other way, we planned our drive down to dodge the crazy commute traffic at either end of the working day. We’ve been to Clarks Beach before, on a past trip, though we’d only ever stayed the one night as it is a convenient stop before returning rental vehicles before jumping on planes out of Auckland. This time though, we’re not leaving. I think, in the end we stayed in Clarks Beach for five (?) days.
Not long before we left the area, we realised that the Waiau Pa Hop was on, and even better, it was quite literally just outside of the caravan park. Naturally, since the Hop promised classic and hot rod cars, as well as food/drink stalls and live music - we dropped in to have a wander through the lanes of some really cool old cars. Neil however, only had eyes for the Commodore Stationwagon and the chip on a stick stall.
It was right around this point that something bizarre clunked its way down the road, something directly under … if not originating from our very van. After ducking out for a coffee and winding our way back to the caravan park, rounding the very last corner, we uh.. lost, like completely expelled, one of the mounts from the vans sway bar. Neil wrote about it a little last time around - you can see the offending bracket here.
We spent the next day on our way out of Clarks Beach trying to find a mechanic / workshop that would be able to fit us in and retrieve the bolts from where they’d sheared off. From Pukekohe to Hamilton our quest took us - eventually we found a place that would be able to get it done that day. We holed up in a nearby cafe where we worked for several hours, with many a coffee as company. They let us sit there for ages and they were super kind so - you know, if you’re ever in Hamilton - the District Cafe / Bar / Eatery does a bang up feed and great coffee. (They’ve even got this cool printout to help you learn how to order coffee in Te Reo Māori - love that.)
E rua ngā kaputino koa - Two cappuccinos thanks.
Until next time,
-T x
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