Heading South

It was time to start heading south to explore more of what the north island has to offer.

We decided to spend the night in Red Beach, about halfway to our next major destination, the Coromandel Peninsula. On our way, I see a sign that has the word “falls” in it. Immediate trepidation enters my mind. Oh no, another water fall that will delay us by 1-3 hours. But the sign said only 3 kilometers away!?! I suggested that we stop and Terri, without any hesitation, agrees.

Whangarei Falls was a great stop. It’s in the middle of town, free, great parking and beautiful. Terri was in her happy place again!

We had parked Britzy at our campsite,had lunch on the beach and were about to rest for a few minutes when a face-tattooed gentleman approached Britzy’s open side door. At Terri’s urging, I met him there and stepped outside to see what he wanted. He explained that he’d locked himself out of his trailer and needed tools to get back in. I explained that as a rental coach, Britzy came with no tools, not even a screwdriver. He asked if he could use a knife and fork. Absolutely!

He returned a few minutes later with the forked slightly distorted; no problem. We started talking life, politics, kids etc. He told me that his tribal name was Tuhoe and that he was an ex-Mongrel Mob Gang leader. “Interesting,” I thought to myself.

We talked about the problems in society today but my interest centered more on his unusual life. He told me about his memoir that he had written and I was hooked, $45NZ later I’m the proud owner of True Red.

We were amazed at how pretty all of the beaches are in New Zealand. Red Beach no exception. We immediately found these shells that were unlike anything we had seen on beaches before. As we started collecting a few, we quickly realized that for this beach, this shell was nothing but a foot poker. We still have a few though.

Red Beach, the private side. Solid rock but at least we were able to avoid the crowds on the public side.