Whangarei, or "Fangarei" as pronounced, was our first mobile accommodation. There we stayed a few nights starting the route to the north and also returning from it. It was where we met the culture of the “i-site” and where we began to make life within the van.
The i-sites are like tourist offices. Those places where you ask where you can sleep for free with the van and send you directly to the paid sites! Well, sometimes they tell us the free sites, but we have already chosen not to ask, in case the flies. We catch the map of the area, ask where are the Pack & Save, library and CO. and ready.
Around Whangarei There are beautiful places to visit. The city also has a very cool area in the port, the so-called Town Basin, a small city within the city. Of the surroundings, two are the areas that we would visit: Whangarei Heads and Tutukaka coast.
On the first pass we decided to pull towards the Whangarei Heads area, a coastline that ends in some hills where you can walk along very cool scenic routes. It is Kiwi territory so dogs (or murderers) here are not welcome, poor people ... if you just want to play with your friends (?)
In this area we did night facing the sea. An entire beautiful place for us. And this was where we had to pass one of the road tests: in the morning, after listening to a millennium3 with the mp3 plugged into the car, the battery does not respond ... but what happens? Which batteries are spent? Clarooooo! How much we have to learn from life ... Luckily there was a fisherman with his 4 × 4 parked next to us and connected us to his battery ... Lesson learned ...
On the way back from our visit to Northland and the northern tip of New Zealand we stopped again in Whangarei, we returned to use their bathrooms with a shower for a fee of $ 2 and we returned to visit some surrounding area. This time it was the coast of Tutukaka. We made a circular tour on the same day making several stops: some waterfalls, a walk to a lighthouse (only Rober, that Lety was in saving mode), some spectacular viewpoints of the coast ... A beautiful area!
We took the last night in Whangarei to celebrate Rober's birthday in a Mexican tasca, walk! The body asked us for some beers! Too bad all the photos were moved, jiji, if the 30 do not forgive! With two little jars of blonde we are already bolinga!
The days pass slowly and we are enjoying them from sunrises to sunsets. Sometimes we miss a roof, at other times we love the freedom that "living in the van" gives us. After our routine in the north of the north island, we return to Auckland and from there to our first housesitting in Waihi!
USEFUL INFO
Whangarei You can spend the night in the parking lot next to the i-site although when we went (weekend) there was a lot of noise from cars and drunkards: -ooo. There are very clean bathrooms 24 hours and hot showers 5 minutes for $ 2. There is no free internet.
Whangarei Heads. You can sleep at the end of the road in Urquharts Bay. There are bathrooms 24 hours very clean. From here there are several very cool walks.
Tutukaka Coast The waterfalls are next to the road towards the coast. The visit to the lighthouse is entertaining. It is done in two parts, the first is very simple, a path of about 10 minutes through a meadow. The second is more complicated, it goes down to a beach that connects with an islet, where the lighthouse (which is not really a lighthouse) is located at the top. The road is slippery and somewhat complicated. To get on and off it takes about 30 or 40 minutes. The views are worth it.
