For the last few years, the NZMCA have run a scheme that offers discounted rates at various camping grounds throughout New Zealand. Some camps offer a flat fee others offer discounts on their current advertised rates, but all offer excellent value for money. After the night in Marton, we decided to head north rather than south and decided that we should take advantage of some of the deals on offer.
The handy guide put out by the NZMCA shows a very rough location for the camping grounds that offer discounts but to get an accurate location best its to use the NZMCA App. Speaking of the App I am amazed that there isn’t a search function that allows you to search just for campgrounds that are part of the scheme. Anyway, the closest to us was the camp at Kai Iwi Beach. (No not the Lakes north of Dargaville.) Another handy feature of the App is the directions button to help find some of the more obscure places to stay. So, with directions set we set forth.
One disadvantage of using Google Maps (the default setting for the directions) is that it chooses what it considers the fastest route to the destination. This can mean that sometime you end up travelling on back roads rather than main roads. As we headed back to the coast via Whanganui I had wrongly assumed that we would travel some of the main route allowing us to replenish our very depleated diesel situation. Oh how wrong I was. Before I knew it we were on the road to Kai Iwi Beach and my fuel light was absolutely glowing at me. According to the dashboard I had sufficient fuel for another twenty kilometres when we arrived at the campground. I wasn’t overly worried but this was certainly the closest we had come to running out. Google Maps told me it was twelve kilometres back to the nearest gas station. Maybe not touch and go but closer than I would normally let it get to.
Putting my fuel anxiety out of my mind we checked into the camp to take advantage of the winter special rate. At only $22 for the two of us with power for the night it was an absolute bargain. The camp is set back a short stroll from the beach and caters to a mix of semi permanent and casual campers with most of the best spots taken by the permanents. We however struck it lucky with views of the sea that the photo doesn’t do justice.
One of the things we like to do is post a picture, like the one of me on the bridge, on our family chat site, with a “guess where we are now?” I must say that our boys at home in Auckland have become quite adept at working things out and no matter how difficult the challenge they seem to be able to solve things quickly. Two of them had our location from the photo with five minutes.
Given that we were still in August the village was quiet with only a few people around. However, I would imagine that once things start to warm up the place would be humming with visitors. Speaking of visitors we discovered that here like a lot of places on the coast south of New Plymouth that there is a designated freedom camping area. This one sits on top of the cliffs overlooking the beach and even has a water tap with the toilets a short stroll down the stairs to the beach. The designated area is meant to be restricted to three campers but with plenty of space I am sure that gets stretched quite often. Also judging by the tyre skid marks is visited by the local boy racers. (More about our encounter with one of those to come in a future blog.)
The campground at Kai Iwi Beach is well set out with almost two hundred spaces, including cabins. Based around a central facilities block that is a little dated but clean, tidy and well maintained. There is also a dump station on site although access was a little difficult for a vehicle of our size. During the busy season, the office also operates a cafe/takeaway which I am sure is extremely popular judging by the good reviews online.
We only stayed the night, although could have easily enjoyed one or two more. In the morning it was off to find the nearest gas station, which Google told me was a Caltex. Despite the low fuel situation we made a stop at the Bason Botanic Gardens another really well reviewed place on the way. It’s a huge park area with a large varied amount of plants and flowers, including a couple of orchid houses. We spent a couple of hours wandering around and would highly recommend the place to others. Jumping back into the van we made it to the Caltex without running out of fuel and lo and behold they also did gas bottle refills. These days it’s so hard to find a place that actually fills bottles rather than the terrible and very expensive swap a bottle.
We called into the camping ground at Waverley Beach to find it deserted both of campers and anyone who could be described as a camp manager. It turns out that you can register and pay on the council website ($21 with power $17 without.) however we decided that we would move on. But, not before having an explore of the surrounding area. Down on the beach we came across a couple of locals fishing from the beach who claimed that this was one of the best snapper fishing spots in NZ. All we saw them catch was the nearby rocks, maybe on another day, things might have been better. There are also a couple of freedom camping area on top of the cliffs that are mostly flat and level. They would however, be very exposed if there was a strong westerly wind.
Just a bit further up the road is the small town of Patea. If you turn towards the coast there are a number of potential places to stay including the local campground. We were very much put off at one of the freedom camping spots we encountered when we discovered a discarded “P” pipe laying on the ground. I debated writing about this but decided that honesty is the best policy. I know this scurge on society is everywhere but it’s still a little off putting to be confronted with the evidence. With both of us feeling uncomfortable about staying here we decided to move on towards Hawera and the NZMCA Park there.
To view the places we have visited click here to see them on Google maps. You can then click the link to read the blog about that area.
