Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Trounson Kauri Park
The 450-hectare Trounson Kauri Park has an easy half-hour loop walk that leads from the
picnic area by the road. It passes through beautiful forest with streams, some fine kauri
stands, a couple of fallen trees and another Four Sisters - two pairs of trees with conjoined
trunks. DOC operates a
campsite
(
www.doc.govt.nz
; sites per adult/child $10/5)
at the edge of the park
with a communal kitchen and hot showers.
Just 2km from SH12,
Kauri Coast Top 10 Holiday Park
(
09-439 0621;
www.kauricoasttop10.co.nz
;
Trounson Park Rd; site/unit from $42/95; )
is an attractive riverside camping ground with
good facilities and a small shop. It also organises night-time
nature walks
(adult/child $25/15)
,
which explain the flora and nocturnal wildlife that thrives here. This is a rare chance to
see a kiwi in the wild. Trounson has a predator-eradication program and has become a
mainland refuge for threatened native bird species, so you should at least hear a morepork
(a native owl) or a brown kiwi.
If you're approaching from the north, it's easier to take the second turn-off to the park,
near Kaihu, which avoids a rough unsealed road.
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Kai Iwi Lakes
These three trout-filled freshwater lakes nestle together near the coast, 12km off SH12.
The largest, Taharoa, has blue water fringed with sandy patches. Lake Waikere is popular
with water-skiers, while Lake Kai Iwi is relatively untouched. A half-hour walk leads
from the lakes to the coast and it's another two hours to reach the base of volcanic
Maunganui Bluff
(460m); the hike up and down it takes five hours.
Camping
( 09-439 0986;
lakes@kaipara.govt.nz
; adult/child $10/5)
is permitted at the side of Lake
Taharoa; cold showers, drinking water and flush toilets are provided.
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Baylys Beach
A village of brightly coloured baches and a few new holiday mansions, Baylys Beach is
12km from Dargaville, off SH12. It lies on 100km-long Ripiro Ocean Beach, a surf-poun-
