If you come to Whitianga you’d better want to get wet. The big attractions are the sandy beaches of Mercury Bay and the diving, boating and kayaking opportunities afforded by the craggy limestone coast and nearby Te Whanganui A Hei Marine Reserve. If you’ve a lust for the luxe, a number of upmarket eateries and [...]
To truly experience this area you have to be prepared to get wet. Beach after clear- watered beach offers munificent opportunities for swimming, surfing or just splashing about. Consequently the hot spots heave with Kiwi holidaymakers at peak times, but even then it’s possible to find isolated stretches of sand where your footprints are the [...]
On the pretty-to-ugly continuum Whangarei sits somewhere in the middle. But beauty is never far away and there are plenty of attractive natural and artistic things to keep you distracted in Northland’s gateway. You may be pleasantly surprised by the interesting choice of eateries and the general ‘going off’-ness of the bars on a Saturday [...]
The park has a sprinkling of huts, a lodge and numerous camping grounds. Along the Taumarunui-Pipiriki section are three Category II huts classified as Great Walks Huts during summer and Serviced Huts in the off-season: the Whakahoro Hut at Whakahoro, and the John Coull Hut and Tieke Kainga, which has been revived as a marae. [...]
While Auckland’s socially ambitious flock to Pauanui, the city’s young and horny head to Whangamata to surf, get stoned and hook up. It can be a raucous spot over New Year, when the population swells to over 40, 000. A true summer holiday town, in the off-season there may as well be tumbleweeds rolling down [...]