Waipu Cove
Today we finally began to feel the freedom the campervan
gives us to wander about, making decisions where to go as we drove along.
After a morning run on a sunny beach at Takapuna we drove north (with a
new microwave) and decided that it would be a good idea to have a fish and
chips lunch at the coastal village of Leigh, a well known dive and snorkel
center and "famous" for their fish and chips. The fish was fresh and the
chips were tasty. We took a pretty good road out to Goat Island, a marine
reserve where a tiny beach was jam-packed with Sunday swimmers and snorkelers,
so we decided to look for something less crowded. We reached a gorgeous beach
at Pakiri just as the rains began and the wind whipped our legs. Too bad.
We continued north for some time along the coast on a pretty bad road,
one of the very few unpaved roads we used, until we ran into an area of
small seasonal homes and pavement at Mangawhai Head. We drove down Moir Street
until we were back on the highway and decided to camp next to the nearly
deserted beach at Waipu Cove. We're not sure why there weren't more people
taking advantage of the clean, wide, white sand that ran for miles from Waipu
Cove to Ruakaka. But it was their loss.
