Dolphins, giant trees, John Lennon, long soft golden beaches, and some more dolphins – welcome to Northland 3

By now we had already spent three days up in wonderful Northland and although we didn't want to stress, we did want to visit some other parts of the country as well so after a morning run on the twin beaches and a dip in the sea, we decided to skip the drive up to the most northern part of NZ at Cape Reinga.

However, we did drive a little bit up this half island to have a look at the famous 90 miles beach (which is actually 90 kilometres long) before starting the drive down the west coast back towards Auckland.

As with the 100 kilometres long beach that we stopped at the day after, besides their length these beaches are not very impressive and far from as beautiful as some of the shorter, but still long beaches that we visited.

The sand on the long beaches are very compact and the beaches are used as 'roads', so not really a place you want to hang out for the day.

On our way back down we spotted one of the most beautiful sunsets ever over Omapere harbour where we then spent the night, and stopped to visit with the kings of NZ, the huge Kauri trees in the Northland Forest Park.

 These trees are really impressive and it is easy to understand why the Mauris believe one of the Kauri trees is the father of the world. The place is filled with a mysterious feeling as one wanders under these huge wonders.

We truly loved the Northland region and could not have had any better introduction to New Zealand. A place we just wish we had planned more time to visit.