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(Above) Vroom with a view.
FISHING UP AN ISLAND
Our ultimate destination lies at the top of
the North Island, where Maori mythology
speaks of the demigod Māui, who bought
the entire island into being.
When he was younger, Māui’s four
brothers wouldn’t take him fishing with
them, so he carved a fishhook from the
magical jawbone of his ancestor and hid
under the floorboards of their canoe. Once
they were out to sea Māui revealed himself,
but his siblings laughed when he pulled out
his special fishing hook. Undeterred, he
dropped the hook into the sea and it sank
deeper and deeper until it caught fast on
something huge. The brothers stopped
laughing and helped Māui haul a gigantic
fish as big as an island to the surface.
The brothers were supposed to
wait until the god of the sea had been
appeased before cutting up the fish, but
they grew impatient and began to carve
out pieces for themselves. These became
the many valleys, mountains, lakes and
rocky coastlines of the North Island, which
is still known to the Maori as Te Ika a Māui,
or Māui’s fish, while the South Island is
known as Te Waka a Māui – Māui’s canoe.
The greedy brothers must have scooped
out a few extra bits around State Highway 1,
where our van lurches from side to side
as we traverse a series of twisting hairpin
bends and skirt the rugged coastline
around the Bay of Islands. As the name
suggests, 144 islands lie scattered just
offshore and the area is world-renowned
for its diving and pristine reefs, but we’re
headed all the way to the tip of the fish.
36 // MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE
The towns become smaller until only
solitary farmhouses dot the landscape,
dwarfed by rolling fields and indigenous
kauri forests. A steep gravel road takes us
down to our final destination, Tapotupotu
Bay, where the ocean lies framed by a
rugged green headland and steep cliffs.
Our home for the next few days is
a basic Department of Conservation
campsite, where the sliding door of our
campervan opens onto the sands of a
pristine estuary. A handful of Kiwi families
OUR HOME FOR THE NEXT
FEW DAYS IS A BASIC
CAMPSITE, WHERE THE
SLIDING DOOR OF OUR
CAMPERVAN OPENS
ONTO THE SANDS OF A
PRISTINE ESTUARY.
and foreign visitors share the beach, where
days are dictated by the rhythm of the tide
– swimming, fishing and deciding when is
the best time to have the first sundowner
(around 5:30 p.m., it turns out).
Tapotupotu Bay is also part of the
Te Paki coastal track, a spectacular 48km
hiking trail that can be done in parts or all
together over three or four days. We opt
for a shorter day hike taking us to Cape
Reinga, the northwestern-most tip of New
Zealand. The trail rises steeply from our
campsite into dense indigenous forest
skirting the cliffs. Every time we crest a