En route to Ahipara we stopped for one night in Hamilton and one night on the outskirts of Auckland. It was a beautiful drive from Auckland into the Northlands through twisty roads and lush bush, fruit crops and sheep fields. There were so many fruit shops along the way we had to stop and grab a van full of fresh produce which we got for a quarter of the normal price. We ended up reaching the town of Kataia in the early afternoon. Kataia is the last spot to get affordable groceries before you reach Ahipara which is 14 kms away. Once we were loaded up we headed straight to Shipwreck bay which is where Iain had stayed the year before for 5 days.
Shipwreck Bay is the extreme south end of 90mile beach at the tip of the North Island. Right on the bay is a small Maori run campground with basic amenities we were hoping to stay at. Unfortunately, the campground was closed due to unforeseen circumstances, likely they had run out of water. So we drove down onto the beach to watch the surfers who congregate on the point break at Ahipara. Iain was itching to get in the water so he grabbed his wetsuit and board and hit the water, I hung out in the van, my vertigo had started acting up during my last few days in Raglan and I hadn't managed to shake it fully by the time we reached Ahipara. Just before sunset a wet and happy Iain got back to the van and we headed to the far side of Ahipara to the other campground in town. One very expensive night later we decided to look for more permanent diggs.
The previous night we had stopped at a fish and chips shop for Iain and a guy he spoke to gave him a tip on a place that was renting it's cabins out by the week. We drove back down to Shipwreck bay to inquire and ended up finding a great little cabin right next to the one we were originally interested in. For $300/week we had a hot water shower, cooking facilities, a big spacious room and a view to kill for. We were 20 feet from white sand and 30 feet from the high tide line. There were surfable waves to either side of us and endless miles of beach to explore. Heaven.
We spent two weeks in Ahipara. After the first 3 days Iain picked up a miserable cold so his surfing days were limited and when he began to feel better the surf died down to nothing. Most of our time was spent walking along the beaches searching for paua shells, watching movies rented from Kataia and reading. We read countless books, it was easy to slip into a totally relaxed lifestyle with no time pressures, to worries and no stress.
We did become friends with our landlord, Hugh. Huge was an older bachelor who had farmed his whole life but had moved to Ahipara for a change of pace when his mother died. He had taken over the rental cabins when his sister decided to move on to a bigger community and he had never looked back. He thoroughly enjoyed feeding us, both wonderful dinners and great stories. Sometime in our second week Hugh invited us to his house for a fish feast. While upstairs I got to poke around his space, namely I got to ogle his collection of china tea and coffee sets (he had to have 20 or 30 complete sets on display) as well as his enormous collection of Kauri gum. Kauri gum is a New Zealand amber that is collected from the swamps around the Northlands. Over the years Hugh had collected and polished the gum he'd found on his farm as well as that he traded from other people. When we left Ahipara he very generously gave us a large piece that Iain or I can polish in our spare time.
For the most part nothing exciting happened in Ahipara. We ate good food, drank a lot of good wine and little bad wine, watched the sun set over the water, played in the waves a little and walked the beautiful beaches. It was the kind of quiet relaxation few people get to experience and I will always treasure it.
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