In which Miles explores Te Arai, Auckland’s northernmost regional park.
You can view the full gallery of 18 pictures below. To view on imgur, click here.
In August 2008, the Auckland Regional Council purchased nearly 50 hectares of new parkland in the north east of Rodney. Highly sensitive dune lake ecosystems, wetlands, coastal broadleaf forest and regenerating forest cover the majority of the land.
– Auckland Council site
Te Arai’s main features are a couple of long white sand beaches. The northernmost beach has some very photogenic rock features at the south end.
This beach is very popular for surfing, and there were a few surfers at the other beach as well.
A track leads up the hills to the south, offering nice views over the beach and Pacific Ocean. I found a website that provided info about walking at Te Arai – info not provided on the Council site. It was helpful, but I had to be very careful not to get lost among the various branching trails.
There is some nice pasture land and some bush.
The track connects with a road that leads to the southern beach.
I climbed back over the hills and enjoyed the view while descending to the carpark.
Te Arai is over an hour drive from central Auckland, so I crossed into Northland and stayed the night at Riverside Holiday Park in Mangawhai. It is a nice campground with free unlimited WiFi and a nice view of the river.
The Mangawhai area is apparently something of a resort town, somewhat quiet in the winter.
The next day I visited the next most northern regional park in Auckland, Pakiri.
You can view the full gallery of 18 pictures below. To view on imgur, click here.
