Cape Reinga South down the West Coast

We began our southern leg down the old west coast road stopping at the Wiapoua forest and River Camp. 

This was a delightful stop offering a variety of services in a quite splendid setting.

We very much enjoyed our three day stay at this Maori operated forestry camp.  This stop was highlighted by a wonderful Anniversary  breakfast prepared and hosted by Miss Theresa a very friendly true Maori.

We continued south stopping daily with numerous options for sites along the way, too many to mention.

One of the more colourful stops was the town of New Plymouth. 

South to Wanganui.   

We camped at a free site at a War Memorial located at the top of the hill.  The views were outstanding and we were given access to a free pear orchard.

Along the way we stopped at the Kiwi Bird Sanctuary to actually see a Kiwi bird which are rarely sited as they are nocturnal.

The good news about the north island is that it is very lush and green and very much reminded us much of our own beloved home of British Columbia.  We discovered to our chagrin, the reason for the lushness was the amount of rainfall.  It rained every day for the first month as we drove, crisscrossed, and hiked our way from the top of this island to the bottom.