Zhang Family Travel Logs: New Zealand 1 - Auckland-Northlands -West Coast

It's winter time in New Zealand, actually Auckland isn't as cold as we thought. The weather reminded us Oregon in the winter. Downtown and waterfront were very quite on the weekend morning, hardly any people roaming the streets.
Victoria Park Market - not too many people
Parnell Village - very quaint little area only 10mins drive from waterfront
Went back to CBD shopping mall but it was closed 6pm, grabbed some fast food nearby
We headed to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter after fighting some minor jetlag. It's basically a small aquarium, the snowcat ride around penguin was unique and interesting.
Then we took 15-min ferry ride to Davonport where we went through the village and then wandered up North Head for some awesome views of the city and harbor.
Came back and found downtown to be almost abandoned. Had dinner at Harbour Side Seafood in the Ferry Building which came highly recommended on many tour books.

Head to Paihia in North Islands after passing Harbour Bridge (much smaller than we imagined) on motorway SH1.
After Waiwere, we reached Wenderholm Regional Park where it was filled with big ancient trees. We also spotted many fantail birds. A huge picture frame is on the beach for additional photo fun.
Puhoi - cute little village with a local cheese shop "Art of Cheese" and historic pub.
Sheep World - a little north of Warkworth. Though we missed the show, boys had tons of fun feeding the variety animals including chicken, sheep, miniature horse, alpaca, goat, donkey.
Town Basin of Whangarei - boys went wild in the children's playground which was right at the waterfront next to the shopping and restaurant area.
Whangarei Falls - in the middle of a residential area, a 20min roundtrip hike to the fall.
overnight Paihai

We took NZ Dolphin Cruise to explore the Bay of Islands in the morning. After some heavy overnight rain, weather was absolutely gorgeous today. Bay was beautiful under the blue sky. However we didn't spot any dolphins until near the end of the trip, so we got free voucher to return any time in the future, valid for 14 years.
After lunch, we went to the Waitangi Treaty House which marks the site of the original treaty signing in 1840 between the Maori people and the British Empire. Maori meeting house, restored treaty House, and Maori War canoe (Waka) were some highlights.
Afterwards we took a scenic drive right outside of the Treaty House and went to Haruru Waterfall which was rather unspectacular.
Lastly had snack at downtown Paihai.

Headed north to Kerikeri to get some fresh produce and stopped by a chocolate factory to get some sweets.
Driving across the country to the west coast took much longer than we thought. Rain showers plus winding country roads added more difficulties to this left-side driving situation. I gave up after trying only ~10kms. West coast felt really rough with heavy wind and choppy waves. Tasman sea is indeed much wilder.
Driving along the west coast to Waipoua Forest - home to the massive Kauri trees. We took 5-mins loop to view the largest of all Kauri Tane Mahuta which is over 2000 years old and is one of earth's most ancient trees.
We had lunch near Dargaville and tried some kumara fries (with sour cream) which were very different and yummy. Later we learned that Dargaville is the kumara growing capital in NZ. Kumaras are delicious sweet potatoes brought to NZ by early Polynesian settler.
We headed back east on SH12 to Kauri Museum in Matokohe. The museum has extensive displays of the regions logging, farming, and social history. Boys had a great time exploring.
We ended up in Warkworth for the night though the motel is a bit out of the way, on the other side of Mahurangi Bay.