Luxury room in Opononi
Trip Start
May 24, 2010
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157
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Trip End
Jun 13, 2011
Opononi, North Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
First stop was Lake Kaliwi on the west coast. Amazingly soft white sand, not at all what to expect to find here! After a couple of hours of rolling green hills we stopped in the Waipoua forest to view the famed kauri tree Tane Mahuta (lord of the forest). With a trunk girth of 13.8 meters it was quite impressive.
Just in time for the sunset we arrived in Opononi. With its perfect setting in the Hokianga Harbour Opononi is the perfect place to spend an evening. We splashed out on a hotel room with sea view in the local pub.
Before leaving Opononi we wanted to take a boat across the water to the huge sandhills to do some sandboarding but unfortunately we were the only people wanting to take the boat so they cancelled it and we had to drive on to Ahipara, further north, to try this activity.
At Ahipara we had to walk along the beach for thirty minutes before arriving at the first sand hill. It wasn't too steep and so we didnt stay there long. The next hill was something very different. It was HUGE! We started to climb up and slide down, head first, on our boards. Gradually we went higher and higher before I pushed myself and climbed up the whole hill! Climbing up in the sand was shattering, such hard work. I probably took 10 – 15 minutes to climb to the top, but then an adrenaline filled 32 second rush down. So much fun, I told Jenny she absolutely had to do it and so up she climbed. After this we were both knackered, mainly from the climbing up, not the sliding down.
Comments
Thanks for this travel story. We're really sorry you missed the boat ride in Opononi BUT there are so many other things to do around Opononi! Please have a look at the activities and local events on WaiotemaramaFalls dot com.