Northland

Liz Light explores the quiet villages of North Kaipara with her camera firmly in hand.

Planning a road trip to the Far North of New Zealand? Start here first. Things to see and do in the Far North.

Liz Light on the road from Omapere to Horeke.

Hokianga: wildly beautiful scenery, a long bicultural history, and heritage Maori churches in tiny hamlets. There’s all this and more, as Liz Light finds out on a road trip there.

No matter how many times I revisit a place it can still surprise me. In the Wairarapa I recently learnt of the Rimutaka Cycle Trail.

Reader Kelly Lynch tells us about her favourite hike: a brisk walk up Pataua Island Mountain in Northland.

Driving south from or to Kaitaia in the very Far North, SH1plunges through the Mangamuka hills that are draped with greenery and native forest. I know that drive well but last time, for a change of scenery, we took the seaward route that turns off just before Ahipara and 60km further on ends at Kohukohu.

"Oh, we've done the Far North," says Thelma, as if it were done, dusted and ticked off the list. Our philosophy is different. We visit the places many times, each time adding, layer by layer, new experiences and different angles.

In an attempt to woo the interest of passers by, small towns all around the country are reinventing themselves. One of them is Kawakawa in the Far North.

We don't attend lot of rallies but this summer we were cajoled into joining a small gathering on the beach at North Pataua. I am very pleased we relented because we discovered a striking bit of the north that we might never have otherwise encountered.

It possibly began with the quirky, Hundertwasser-designed public toilets in the northern town of Kawakawa, where attending to one's bodily functions has become an intriguing, somewhat psychedelic experience.

Dargaville was once the country's busiest trading port. Peta Stavelli looks into the region's history at Dargaville Museum.