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State Highway 10 follows the coast along the shores of Doubtless Bay passing numerous golden sand beaches before heading inland from the old timber port at Mangonui to the sheltered waters of the Whangaroa Harbour with its volcanic landforms and forest clad coastline. Further out on the coast is Matauri Bay and slightly further south lies Kerikeri with its spectacular Rainbow Falls.
1AWANUI
The trip starts from Awanui on SH10.
Ahead lies some of the most pristine beaches in the North Island on a beautifula stretch of scenic highway so make sure that you take the time to stop and enjoy all that this journey has to offer.
Drowned kauri forest at Lake Ohia.
2LAKE OHIA
From Awanui drive east 14.7 km on SH10 and turn left onto Inland Road. The track to Lake Ohia is on the left, 1 km north.
A short detour off the main road will take you to the site of a drowned forest, where a maze of stumps is all that remains of these ancient kauri. There are a number of layers of kauri logs lying buried in many parts of Northland. Preserved in swamps, these logs can reveal the fate of previous generations of kauri forests, tens of thousands of years ago. Some forests, where the fallen trees are facing in the same direction, were probably blown over during hurricanes or possibly knocked over by tsunamis that swept across low-lying areas. Others were destroyed by fires, probably caused by lightning strikes during dry periods and some may have simply reached a size where they became unstable and fell over. In many places there are three layers of logs lying in a criss-cross pattern on top of each other. At Lake Ohia the trees died standing up and have decayed to ground level leaving only the stumps and root structure. Its likely that over thousands of years, sand blown inland gathered in hollows, building up layers which formed a sandstone base, preventing water from draining away and creating naturally formed ponds and lakes. As the water level around them rose, many of the ancient kauri fell over, often knocking over other trees before eventually being replaced by a new generation of forest. The process repeated itself over the millennia with subsequent generations reaching maturity and a size where the huge trees, with their shallow root structure would have become unstable and again started to fall. The drowned forest at Lake Ohia is 30,000 years old, the trees having been exposed when the lake was drained earlier this century by gumdiggers. The re is also another short walk 2 km further along Inland Road. The Gum Hole Reserve Walk is a loop track through the manuka passing a series of holes excavated by gumdiggers. Classified as a gum-field wetland, Lake Ohia is now an important habitat for rare ferns, mosses and orchids.
3TOKERAU
Continue north 11.3 km on Inland Road and turn right onto Simon Urlich Road. Continue 0.5 km and turn left onto Tokerau Beach Road which leads 2 km along the beachfront.
The main settlement on the Karikari Peninsula, Whatuwhiwhi, is located at the northern end of Tokerau Beach, the longest beach on the Karikari peninsula which stretches 18 km south to Aurere. With its exposed beach break, Tokerau produces good surf when the winds are coming offshore from the west and there is a north-easterly swell. This uncrowded stretch of shell-laden sand is also perfect for kite surfing and sand yachting. The French trader and navigator Jean-François-Marie de Surville arrived in Doubtless Bay in 1769 with many of his crew either sick or dying from scurvy. They anchored off Brodie's Creek, north east of Whatuwhiwhi, gathering cresses and green plants from the shore. A storm stranded men ashore where they were treated well by the local Maori. In the same storm, their ship St Jean Baptiste dragged her anchors, which had to be cut free along with the ship's yawl, which had struck rocks. The yawl was later seen ashore on Tokerau Beach, De Surville setting of with an armed party to retrieve it. They encountered a group of Maori carrying spears and took their chief, Ranginui, hostage after he approached de Surville carrying a twig of green leaves as a sign of peace. The French burned about 30 huts and destroyed a canoe filled with nets, then returned to their ship with Ranginui. The crew members who had been stranded earlier, identified him as the chief who had been hospitable to them, but de Surville kept him captive and St Jean Baptiste sailed for Peru later that day. Ranginui died in captivity of scurvy 12 weeks later, as the St Jean Baptiste continued east across the Pacific. The French crew continued to suffer losses from scurvy and in April 1770, de Surville drowned off the coast of Peru in heavy seas, while seeking help for his dying crewmembers.
4MATTHEWS VINTAGE COLLECTION
Return to SH10 and continue east 3.9 km to Aurere and turn left to reach the vintage car museum.
A classic little museum jam-packed with a private collection of vintage cars dating back to the early 1900s. The museum also features machinery used in farming, including tractors and stationary engines which are kept chugging away throughout the day. There is also a lot of pioneer farming and domestic equipment, including a big display of working water pumps, demonstrations of butter making, sheep shearing powered by a stationary engine, rope making and a black powder demonstration. There are vintage car rides, a tractor train and hay rides as well as piano playing and a sing along. Assembled and restored by a dedicated vintage enthusiast over the last 40 years, this fascinating museum is one of the places you should make sure you visit, especially if you encounter a rainy day in the ‘Winterless North.'
DOUBTLESS BAY
Taipa, Cable Bay and Coopers Beach are a string of popular sandy holiday beaches set along the shores of Doubtless Bay. The pohutukawa lined beaches provide good swimming and are easy to get to from the road. It was Captain Cook who sailed past this part of the coast in 1769, in his ship the Endeavour, who named the area Doubtless Bay. It was also here that legendary Maori voyager Kupe landed in 950AD, calling this new land Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud) before exploring its coastline and then returning to Hawaiki with the story of his discovery.
Cable Bay, Northland.
5CABLE BAY
Continue southeast on SH10 6.1 km to Cable Bay. There is a good parking and picnic spot on the left right next to the beach.
Cable Bay is the smallest but most picturesque of the beaches in Doubtless Bay, featuring rock pools to explore and beautiful white silica sand, tinged with a pinkish hue from sea shells crushed by the waves over the millennia. Occasionally you can see seals along the rocks. Cable Bay got its name on 1902 when the longest cable in the world was laid from the beach 3500 nautical miles to Queensland, replaced 10 years later by a new cable from Sydney to Auckland.
COOPERS BEACH
Ablaze with colour in summer, from the red-flowering pohutukawa that provide shelter for holidaymakers on the beach, Coopers Beach is the most popular stopping place on this part of the coast. The white sands occasionally yield small, black fossils (Cocos zeylancia) which are ancient petrified coconuts preserved since the early Miocene Age. There are walking tracks leading across the nearby Taumararumaru Reserve to three defended Maori pa sites overlooking the beach.
Marlin, Mangonui Hotel.
6MANGONUI
Continue east on SH10 4.5 km and turn left onto Beach Road. Drive 0.8 km into Monganui on Beach Road and continue 0.4 km on Waterfront Drive to the wharf. This is a good place to stop and go for a walk around the town.
Although the main road now bypasses this quaint little historic town, it’s an ideal place to stop and take a walk along the avenue of pohutukawa trees beside the harbor, lined with picturesque buildings. You can enjoy freshly caught fish and chips on the waterfront and see marlin adorning the walls of the local tavern. Today Mangonui is a centre for big game fishing but the town was originally founded in the early nineteenth century as a base for up to 30 whaling ships, that once frequented the harbor. The whalers left a legacy of kauri buildings, the logs felled in the forests inland, having been floated down to the township to be milled. The Pikiwahine stream was the site of an old flax mill operated in the 1860s on Maori Point and from Rangikapiti Road you can reach the trail to the Rangikapiti, Rangitoto and Moehuri Pa sites which look out across Mangonui Harbour and Doubtless Bay.
MANGONUI HERITAGE TRAIL
If you have an hour or two you can explore the 3 km heritage trail that begins at the historic Mangonui Courthouse, built in 1892. including the Wharf Store, one of the first two-storeyed kauri buildings built in New Zealand, dating back to 1890. The Mangonui Hall was built in 1894 and the Mangonui School was opened in 1884. There are three early cottages as well as St Andrew’s Anglican Church with its beautiful stained-glass windows, which all date back to 1860. Many of the early settlers are buried in the churchyard. The Old Oak Inn was built in 1861 while the original School and County Council Building, along with Windermere, the original pit-sawn kauri homestead, were built in 1870. Crick Cottage, built in 1864 and later a Colonial Villa dating back to 1905, were the homes of a number of the early Mangonui doctors. German born, Gustav Leser, built the Leser Buildings in the early 1900s. The Mangonui Post Office dates back to 1904, the Mangonui Hotel built in 1905, was the fourth and last of the hotels and the General Store was built on piles out over the harbor in 1907. The Mangonui Methodist Church was built in 1909 when there was a strong Wesleyan following and the Bank of Australasia Building was built in 1911. The Feist Bakery was using wood-fired brick kilns in 1920.
7TOTARA NORTH
Continue southeast 1.5 km along Waterfront Drive to get back onto SH10. Drive 20.8 km east on SH10 and turn left onto Totara North Road. Drive north 3 km to Totara North.
The Rev. Samuel Marsden established his first mission at Whangaroa in 1814 but during the late 1800’s through to the early 1900’s, kauri was in massive demand for shipbuilding and it became the main focus of those who came to the harbour. The trees were processed at large mills in Whangaroa and Totara North and between 1872 and 1893 the Lanes Mill at Totara North became the largest ship building site in the South Pacific. The logs were brought down from the bush and then rafted in bundles of 100 or more down the rivers into the harbour and towed to the mills by a paddle steamer. Some of the mills were producing in excess of 100,000 feet of Kauri timber a week. The kauri timber and kauri gum industries saw Whangaroa become one of the most prosperous and populated areas of Northland during that period. Today visitors to the Totara North Gum Store Bar & Grill can see a vast array of historical items and trophy fish mounted on a variety of native timber wall panels in this restored historic building. From Campbell Road you can follow the Wairakau Stream Track along an old farm road over a saddle and down through regenerating forest to the Wairakau Stream. The track crosses the stream twice before crossing a grassy clearing to follow the western arm of the harbour to Lane Cove. It takes two hours to complete the 5.6 km walk to the cove and another 45 minutes to make the steep climb from behind Lane Cove Cottage up onto the volcanic spire known as the Duke's Nose, providing spectacular views over the Whangaroa Harbour.
WHANGAROA HARBOUR
With a narrow entrance and deep sheltered waters, Whangaroa Harbour has always been a good anchorage. Now a tranquil base for deep-sea fishing, the harbour was once the scene of a massacre in 1809 when the Boyd arrived to pick up kauri spars for delivery on her return trip to England. Following a conflict between a Maori greeting party and the ships captain, several crew members who had gone ashore, were killed by local Maori who then dressed in the sailors clothing and boarded the ship after dark, to attack the rest of the crew. Only three of the seventy crew escaped alive and the ship was set adrift, burning to the waterline after a barrel of gunpowder exploded. The Shipwreck Museum at Whangaroa has relics from the Boyd. Today recreational fishing and sailing trips are offered by local residents.
Whangaroa Harbour from St Paul's Rock.
8ST PAULS ROCK
Return to SH10, drive southeast 7.9 km and turn left onto Whangaroa Road. Follow the road around the harbour 6.3 km and turn right onto Old Hospital Road. The track up to the summit of St Paul’s Rock starts up on the hill at the top of Old Hospital Road.
Set amongst forest clad hills, the sheltered bays of the Whangaroa Harbour make an interesting scenic diversion from SH 10, especially if you take the time to climb up onto the volcanic cone of St Pauls Rock. The 30 minute walk to the summit (230m) follows a track from the road behind the southern end of the harbour, up above the Whangaroa township to an impressive viewpoint on the top of this ancient andesite volcanic cone. St Pauls Rock is one of a series of small peaks known as the ‘Twelve Apostles’ and from the summit you can see many of the forest clad volcanic formations that rise above the convoluted arms of the harbour.
9MATAURI BAY
Return to SH10, continue southeast 11.8 km and turn left onto Matauri Bay Road. Drive north 16 km to reach Matauri Bay.
From high on the slopes of the headland and the old pa site overlooking Matauri Bay, you can look out towards the Cavalli Islands and the renowned deep sea fishing grounds that bring people out to this part of the coast every summer. It only takes 20 minutes to walk up onto the headland from the campground and store at the northern end of the beach. A memorial, made by sculptor Chris Booth, commemorates the Rainbow Warrior which was laid to rest in the Cavalli Islands. The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who gave his first sermon in the Bay of Islands in 1814, is also commemorated in a small historic church on this beautiful stretch of coastline.
Rainbow Falls, Kerikeri.
10RAINBOW FALLS
Return to SH10, continue southeast 12.8 km and turn left onto Waipapa Road. Drive east 2.2 km and turn right onto Rainbow Falls Road. The track to the falls starts from the carpark on the right, 0.8 km along this road.
Called Ani aniwaniwa (waters of the rainbow) by the Maori, the Rainbow Falls plummet 27 m over the edge of a huge basalt lava bluff. The falls can be viewed from a platform on a short 2 minute walk from the carpark or you can follow the track for 10 minutes down to the base of the falls. The Kerikeri River Walk continues down the river to the Wharepoke Falls and the old Stone Store, a 3.5 km walk that takes about 90 minutes. There are numerous volcanic cones, lava flows and hot springs between the Bay of Islands and the upper reaches of Hokianga Harbour. There are 26 main locations where volcanic eruptions broke through the older basement rocks in this part of the country. The lava flows have partly filled valleys in places like Moerewa and have also formed waterfalls including those on the Kerikeri River as they continued to erupt through until about 2000 years ago.