James & Clare, Coddiwomplers Inc: Frollicking and fishing in the Far North

Amazing tree root system ... Matai Bay

We were really looking forward to spending most of January in the Far North. We left Levin in a raging storm, driving to Auckland under less than perfect conditions. The Desert Road presented an intensity of wind and rain that made keeping the truck on the road quite a challenge. But get to Auckland safely we did.

On our way north we stopped at Mangonui wharf. The kingis were in and there were approximately 15 or so fisherman getting in each others way in their quest to drag one in. We watched for a while but the chaos soon got the better of us and we moved on.

Our first stop in Northland was a DOC campground at Matai Bay, on the Karikari Peninsular. This campground was a bit busy for our liking, not surprising for the middle of the summer holidays, and there was a rahui in place for fishing. Now whilst we support the concept of conservation and preservation of resources where it is necessary to do so, we also believe that recreational fisherman are held disproportionately responsible for this. It is not the wo/man on the rocks/beach with a single rod each who doing the damage. Grrrr. Bug bear right there!

Not really an ideal stop for us, however we were happy enough to kick back and relax for a couple of days at this gem of a place.

Matai Bay in all it's summer glory

The sea was like a lake.

Rock formations at the end of the bay

Heading north from here we stopped at the Parengarenga Harbour wharf to see if you could catch some live bait to fish for a kingi. The live bait were in abundance and we finally did hook into a kingi which was too small to take so off he went to swim another day. As we were thinking about getting our last live bait in to head off a beautiful big bronze whaler shark came sloping in and took off with the line. So amazing to see so close up!

Next stop was Rarawa DOC campground. Again, a nice place to stay for a couple of days. A lovely lady we had met at Matai Bay was here too and she showed us where we could pick some wild spinach. This made a lovely addition to one of our camp meals.

After topping up with fresh veges and fruit from stalls at the side of the road we were off up to Spirits Bay. What a magical place this is. The campground is huge and not nearly as busy as it is quite a drive from the main road. We had quite a lot of fun here hooking into some great kingi but failing to land any ... until the weather turned too foul to fish off the rocks.