Helensville to Matakohe

July 7, 2009

Am I finally adjusting to NZ time? I got up at 7:30 am today, which compared to the last few days feels like sleeping in. Not sure though because I couldn’t stay up past 10 last night either. Anyway, I got up and we got ready and made breakfast. We told the B&B lady to not worry about leaving out any breakfast for us as we had no intention of eating it. We instead had a yummy omelet, toast and tea. We packed up and headed out the door, stopping at the local i-site (visitor centre) to plan what we’d do next. They weren’t quite open yet so we went into a second hand store and walked around. I scored Raven a wool sweater jacket for 3 bucks, which was exactly what she’d been looking for. The shop next door then opened up so we went in and looked around. Of course, I ended up spending $$$ on jewelry that I simply had to have and other lovely NZ merchandise. We then went to the visitor centre and learned about the area north of Auckland. We were told to drive to Matakohe because they have a Kauri Museum. Kauris are ancient trees native to New Zealand that used to completely cover the North Island. You know where this is going… now there aren’t many of these giant trees left and the museum is dedicated to them.

So we headed out towards Matakohe and made sure to stop along the way at every lookout we could find. Unlike yesterday, the drive today wasn’t uber scary as there were actually two full lanes and they didn’t have as many blind curves. We stopped at the Omeru Scenic Reserve since the signs mentioned it. It was completely deserted, not a soul in sight. We quickly realized that we’d have to change our shoes because it was very muddy. Armed with our cameras we walked down the big hill and onto a trail leading to a few small waterfalls and an ancient Maori Pa site. We took oodles of pictures before heading back up to the car to continue on.

According to the guidebook, the town of Warkworth (such a great name) was picturesque and worth a stop. The GPS said that we were going 50 minutes out of our way but we didn’t care. We wanted picturesque and we wanted lunch. We made our way to Warkworth and parked the car so that we could walk around. We settled on a café called Ginger and had a delicious lunch. We also walked into a bookstore (leaving with books, of course), a hat store and a little knickknack store before heading back to the car. It was a good stop and well worth the 50 minute detour.

On our way out of Warkworth we passed a little area called “Sheep World”. Now who can resist a place called Sheep World?! We refused to pay the $22 admission to see the sheep but we did find our way into the gift shop where I spent more money than I should on an amazing wool sweater that I just love! And to think that I got it at Sheep World! LOL.

We made a few more stops along the way taking pictures and stopped at a shop called Frog Pool Farm. I especially liked the sign on the back door that read “No Entry, Swarming Bees”. Hee hee. We didn’t open the door.

We finally arrived in Matakohe around 3:45 and went to the Kauri Museum. I didn’t think it was nearly as wonderful as the guy at the i-site had said, especially when I had to be reminded that these glorious trees were chopped down. We did enjoy ourselves anyway and learned a bit about the trees including that people used to dig up the gum from the prehistoric trees buried under the earth. We also discovered the gift shop and I somehow got through that store unscathed. We walked around the grounds a bit, taking pictures and looking at trees before heading off to find out where we were going to stay.

Matakohe is a very small town. So small that there are no backpackers and our options were a couple of bed and breakfasts or a Holiday Park. We didn’t really know what a holiday park is but we’re staying at one so I do now. It’s kind of a commercial campground with ‘cabins’. These ‘cabins’ are manufactured homes and some have kitchen/bathroom facilities and some do not. We’re going on the cheap here so we have a room with beds, heat and a fridge (electricity too, I might add) and we have to walk out to the bathrooms and kitchen facilities. It’s actually quite cozy and we’re perfectly happy. I think if I had the choice though, I’d stick with a backpacker.