Wenderholm Regional Park, Auckland, New ZealandWenderholm RP – drive to
Northland
A Toll Road
Yesterday we already took a
picture at the rental station and today we came to one: a toll station, they
don’t have booth, you have to go online and pay it online within 5 days of
driving on the toll road. That is kind of funky – so Gine took pictures of each
sign, that tonight we know what we need to do, because if you don’t pay online,
you get a fine!!! Let’s not forget: today is a lot of traffic – all going in
the opposite direction (good for us) – I think everyone goes home after a
weekend.
Green Pastures
One thing we discovered very soon,
is that everything is super green, you have those rolling green hills, just
like in the pictures. And sometimes when we look all we can see is tropical
green jungle.
It is a bit cloudy, but we still
have the car window open because it is warm!!! (except inside the Mall). Today
we are heading on SH1 North towards Whangarei – but first we need to make some
stops.
Wenderholm Regional Park
- It is at the mouth of the Puhoi river (and no we didn’t go in this Bohemian town, we didn’t have enough time)
- It was Auckland’s 1st Regional Park, and they say it is the most beautiful (that is why we stop here – and it is not too much of a detour)
- You can see the coastal forest on the Maungatauhoro (mountain with the eroding cliffs)
- Robert Graham, an Auckland politician and he was the first European to own land here. In 1868 he built a homestead and named it Wenderholm: today this house is known as the Couldrey house after the last private owner. By the way in 1953 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philipp were here
- In 1965 it became a Regional Park
Our first stop, and it is easy to
find with lots of big brown signs. It is funny as we drive in, we saw a BMW car
show – but Paul said I’m not into BMW, I’m a Corvette guy - not for us – no
stopping! Lucky for us, we did find a parking spot, as it is fairly full (haha
joke, it was even fuller when we left). From here over green lawns and between
those huge amazing trees and we come to the beach. And we realize: we didn’t bring
the beach chair – the one we bought this morning – ok heading back and then
Paul said: no hiking for me, I still need to relax a bit.
Couldrey house lookout
that is what Gine decided to do,
first walking back on the grass near those huge amazing trees, then by the
Coudrey house, which is a super cute old house, a super cool wooden sculpture:
Te Pou Herenga a Nga Tupuna:
- It represents the history of the Maori who lived here for more than a thousand years, meaning “the post that ties our ancestors to this land”
- The pou whenua (boundary marker) represents the physical and spiritual connection to this region
- The rakau (tree) was a totara and is for the Maori a chiefly tree: therefor an appropriate tikanga (etiquette) must be followed
- The upoko figurehead at the top represents all Rangatira (chiefs) who stood on this land, the outer shape is in form of a waka (canoe) for all the wakas which landed here, the two intertwining figures are two important Maori ideals: the man’s strong desire to protect his wife and the arranged marriagesto form alliances or settle differences. The two natural splits are for the rivers here in Wenderholm Regional park
- Interestingly all is written in Maori language too
And now following the
blue-yellow-red markers to the walking trails, and then it goes up, it is today
humid, warm and walking up inside this tropical jungle makes one hot and
sweaty. But then suddenly an opening and the green grass and I can look down
onto the river valley and also the beach – it is so super cool. Going a bit
further – but it only ended up in the jungle and as we only have limited time,
a short break at the bench and it is time to head back.
Back at the beach – off with the
shoes – and we walk to the water and put our feet in and we walk along the
beach – admire the view and the cool shells in the sand and then it is time to
keep going – we still have more on our list.
Pohuehue Waterfalls
Is our next stop, it sounds
simple: 500m and 15 min – but it goes down and up with stairs and it is hot and
humid – now we are both sweaty. But it is really beautiful in the tropical
forest here. And something else we see the first time: before entering the
trail we had to go through a gate: you swipe of your shoes, make sure they are
clean and then walk onto a disinfection stations and you get sprayed from the
bottom (nice and refreshing for the lets too) before entering and leaving the
trail -it is to prevent the kauri dieback. Once at the platform – we look down
onto the waterfall, it is ok, but not mind blowing and back through the super
cool tropical jungle.
A long drive to the Northland
We still have a 1.5 hr drive – so
we decided to skip everything else on our plan – I mean it is still only day 2
on our trip. Paul is now already well versed in driving on the wrong side of
the road, and today we are also practising driving in circles – they love
traffic circles here!!! Beautiful green pastures, views from high up in the
mountain all the way to the ocean, endless rolling hills, tropical trees along
the road, it is a fun drive.
Only we miss our coffee, we don’t
have gummy bears – we are not set up for long driving!!!! All we have is water.
Along Whangarei Head
We are not staying in town but
along Whangarei Head road. As we drive into Whangarei we can see the ocean and
then cross several bridges (one pretty cool one), and it goes along the ocean
and inland and back to the ocean, some super pretty funky mountains on narrow
windy and very very curvy roads.
At Shores Apartment
Our Airbnb is up a driveway – we park
right in front of it and have huge windows and glass sliding looking down onto
the ocean. It is super pretty and also very spacious – it will be perfect for
staying here for a bit. First thing we
make coffee!!! Only Gine didn’t know that you have to turn on the plug-in –
what??? Gine also walked down to the ocean to enjoy the view a bit more and we
got told that the water is super nice for swimming when the tide comes in. Walking down to the ocean will be something to
do often, because the views are so great.
After a nice supper we had also a
beautiful sunset – right from our apartment. We look forward to an exciting day
tomorrow.
2025-05-23