So we hadn't left Auckland until pretty late on our first day. And we had no idea where we were going to camp. After driving around aimlessly for about 3 hours (well not technically aimlessly, because we were aiming for a place to camp), all we came across was fenced-off farmland. This, as we later discovered, is very common, and it's next to impossible to find a free campsite in New Zealand. "Freedom camping", as they call it, is quite commonly frowned upon by the locals. We also experienced this in the South Island, campervaning back in September.
But we didn't let that stop us. Our first night was spent at a public scenic lookout. At the time of setting up our tent, it was dark, so we had no idea we were about 100 metres from Highway 16, one of the main highways in Northland. So that would explain the heavy traffic flow... All night... Anyway, it was a success! We camped for free! Apparently it's a $200 fine to freedom camp, but I mean, we got away with it on the main highway. Great start to our trip! But there was only one other time that we found ourselves a free campsite (tear). This was also a scenic look out but the difference with this one was that it was clearly marked "No Camping". We stayed anyway :).
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign!?
We spent the next 11 nights exploring Northland. And by exploring I mean, we drove up every dead end road and checked out every scenic lookout on the map. We did end up paying for a few campsites. One, in North Whananaki cost us about $15/pp. But man, was it ever worth it! The host forgot to mention the dolphins that hang around feeding in the bay all morning; such an amazing sight to crawl out of the tent first thing in the morning and witness. This is definitely one of my favourite spots so far!
We also spent a day deep-sea fishing out of Russell, in the Bay of Islands. This was the first time for me. Andrew had done it before. Anyway, it was Andrew, myself, the "captain", and this other Korean couple (the man owned a petrol station in Auckland and the women was straight off the boat from Korea!!). Andrew reeled in the first snapper (the only type of fish we caught), followed by the Korean man, then the Korean woman (who was scared shitless of the thing), then it was back to Andrew. No luck for me. It even got to the point where the "captain" caught a fish and let me reel it in. I felt like a 2 year old! In the end I did end up catching my own snapper, and I have to say I think it was almost the biggest for the day!
My Big Snapper!
We stayed out on the boat for 4 hours. When we got back to Russell the "captain" (there must be a more proper name for this man), filleted the fish for us. I made a video of this because he made it look so easy. But I guess snapper just doesn't have much bones in it. Man, did he ever give us a lot of snapper because we had it for dinner for the next week! On top of feeding 2 couchsurfing hosts with it.
Filleting the Snapper
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