North Island and the return to Australia

Wow – what a busy couple of weeks we have had since the last blog entry. So busy that there has not been a lot of time to actually sit down and write a blog. The emphasis on this part of the trip has definitely been beaches. While the South Island of New Zealand has the market cornered on awesome mountain tramping, the North Island and Australia come out the winners for the most amazing beaches and coastline.

We flew to Auckland, picked up our rental car and immediately headed for the coast, without ever even seeing the city except from afar. We first went to the west coast a little north of Auckland to the surfing community of Piha beach. Unfortunately, the rainy weather we had been having in the south followed us to the north – but at least it was now warmer. After a wet night in the tent, the weather cleared enough to enjoy the rugged headlands and sandy beaches the next morning. There were lots of Aucklanders out to enjoy the day as well. It was a surf club day, so all these little kids were running around doing surf drill competitions. They really get kids comfortable in the water at an early age here.

Piha in the rain

Piha beach headlands

Later in the day we headed farther north and checked out Bethell’s Beach – recommended to us by friends of a friend as one of their favorite places. It did not disappoint us – a beautiful pristine beach – perfect for a long walk. We also checked out a small inland lake in the area that you had to hike to. We were shocked when the trail led us over this amazing area of sand dunes. It was like a hundred acres of sand which formed a tall hill, completely surrounded by forest, with a lake at the bottom. Of course, Tammara went for a swim.

Crossing the giant dune

From here our plans were very loose and we weighed a few options of how to spend our limited time… head to the very north tip of the island, hike out overnight to a light house on Cape Britt, or even go back south and try to do part of another Great Walk. After much debate we decided to go to the Bay of Islands region and camp on the island of Urupukapuka. This is an amazing part of the northeast coast with beautiful small islands, turquoise bays and rocky headlands. We took a boat from the tourist town of Pahia about an hour out into the bay and got dropped off on Urupukapuka. The entire island is a national park. There are no roads, so all the camping is accessed by boat or by a wonderful network of trails.

Urupukapuka

Over-looking campground

Urupukapuka headlands

Since it is an island, there has been an ongoing project to eradicate all the invasive predators to protect the native birds. New Zealand evolved without any mammal predators, so the birds did not evolve strategies to protect themselves. With the introduction rats and weasels the bird populations were devastated. Through trapping and poisoning the mammals the bird numbers are starting to come back.  

From Urupukapuka we worked our way back to Auckland for a late afternoon flight to Brisbane, Australia. We had intentionally scheduled the trip in the order we did to be farther south while it was still warm and then to go north as the season moved towards the southern hemisphere winter. This also allowed us to be in Brisbane to visit Tammara’s cousins over Easter.

Yes, Tammara has cousins in Australia…Her father grew up in Holland and after World War II he immigrated to New York. He had a brother who immigrated to Paupa New Guinea and eventually to Australia where he raised his family…. Tammara’s cousins. The two brothers never saw each other after the war, but Tammara had some correspondence with the family over the years. This trip was an opportunity to finally meet them. We arrived at Esther’s house and within minutes felt like we had known her forever. We spent a lot of time looking at family photo albums and comparing stories. She and her partner George really made us feel welcome and at home.

Esther, Tammara and Louisa

 We used their home as a base to explore Brisbane and visit a few area National Parks. We camped overnight at Lambington National Park which is a rainforest situated at the top of a flat mountain. Really a unique and beautiful place.  We also visited cousin Louisa in Mount Tamborine and she toured us around the town, National Park, and botanical gardens. We really enjoyed the visiting and were sad to be moving on.

Awesome trees at Lambington National Park

 We had decided to finish the trip with a real vacation from all this vacation. So we headed north up the coast from Brisbane to the trendy beach town of Noosa. We arranged for three nights at an Air B&B in a “tree-house”. It’s not really a tree house, but our bed was at tree-top level and looked out over yet another National Park. It was really an awesome place to wake up. We’ve had a couple of relaxing days – walking the  beach, playing in the waves, canoeing the Noosa River and just enjoying life… because that’s what it’s all about.

Our tree house in Noosa

Sunset at Noosa beach