One of the advantages of motorhome travel is that fellow travellers like to talk on common interest topics, such vans—and to swap recommendations for overnight pitches. During our stay in the Kaipara one such conversation resulted in advocation of a freedom camping top spot at Tokerau Beach on Northland’s Karikari Peninsula, part of Doubtless Bay. We were promised long strolls on an open shore and the tantalising opportunity to go “swimming in coca cola”, so we set off to spend a few days relaxing and recovering from Covid-19.
Coordinates
Tokerau Beach
The main settlement is further up the Karikari Peninsula, but midpoint there is an inconspicuous turnoff that leads to a large freedom camping area at the end of Ramp Road. Getting there requires care due to the uneven surface and once arrived there is also soft sand to avoid. However, we secured a beachfront parking spot sufficiently distant from others and with views for miles. There was more traffic on the beach than through camp, as fisherpeople sought out a good spot from which to launch their torpedos or drones into/ over the surf in order to cast far from shore. That’s apparently how you fish properly these days—hook and worm alone are not sufficient!
It was an ideal position from which we could enjoy both sunrise and sunset for several days—and not feel obliged to do a great deal in between:
Watching the coming and going of the sun
Sometimes it’s all about capturing the colours at just the right moment; at others the joy is in simply watching. Rarely does taking the time to observe a sunrise or sunset leave you feeling worse for the experience. Science suggests doing so boosts well-being. Observing such aesthetic and awe-inspiring events reduces the magnitude of the “urban-nature dichotomy” in our personal appraisals of the landscape around us, partially enhancing its perceived value. So, check timings on your phone and set yourself an early-bird alarm!
❤️ Well-being
Swimming in cola
Lake Rotopotaka, also known unofficially as “Coca Cola Lake”, is a mere 200m from the freedom camping area off Ramp Road at Tokerau Beach.
The “Coca Cola” name is in reference to the naturally-occurring tannins that give the lake its colour. The tepid fresh water seemed like it could harbour things that like warmth to flourish. Indeed, the lake was closed during summer 2021 due to the presence of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae; such blooms can be fatal to dogs and may make people ill.
We found the colour change as you got deeper into the water fascinating, and spent some time trying to photograph the transition:
What are tannins?
Tannins are a “class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules.”, or “bitter-tasting chemical compounds that bind proteins” if you prefer. They are used in the treatment of leather (tanning), are found in wine and concentrated in kauri leaves. Water-soluble tannins leaching from decaying vegetation give rise to the reddish-brown colour—as seen at Coca Cola Lake.
🤔 Curiosity
More beaches
Before leaving Doubtless Bay we drove north up the peninsula to Maitai Bay. B had camped here more than once in childhood, but the passage of time had made it mostly unrecognisable. The campsite was popular with tent campers who come to swim and snorkel in the sheltered bay. A rāhui declared the area as a “no take zone”, a cultural prohibition on collecting seafood (kaimoana) intended to address unsustainable natural resource management.
At the other end of Doubtless Bay is a string of beaches and settlements lining SH10. This includes Cable Bay, where a cable station operated from 1902–12 spanning nearly 3,500 nautical miles to Queensland, Australia—making it the longest undersea cable in the world. We still can’t figure out why the cable terminated on the eastern coast, hooking around the tip of North Island and down, and not the (surely closer) western coast. Perhaps they were trying for a world record?
Just around the headland from Cable Bay is Coopers Beach, a well-known swimming and water sports haven 2.5km in length:
Next up is Mangōnui, famous for its examples of surviving heritage architecture and a fish (and chip) shop that is suspended over the inlet on stilts:
Further west is Tauranga Bay, home to a campsite and, yes, another gorgeous beach (yawn!). We enjoyed a swim here to cool off before resuming our journey:
Taiaue Bay offers beach access at Te Ngaere:
Matauri Bay was our last stop during this away mission to Doubtless Bay. It has a very popular campsite at one end and what can only be described as a shanty town at the other (we could not find any good information about this, but understand it may relate to Māori landowner debts). The waters offshore are also the resting place of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship that was sunk in Auckland by French government-directed terrorists in 1985—relocated here as an artificial reef.
Time now for the vanship to go south.
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