BANK HOLIDAY BEACH PARTY

Our original tour plan was to head south from Russell down the west coast on Highway 12 to complete a loop of Northland.  But in the knowledge that it was a Bank Holiday weekend in the region to celebrate Auckland’s anniversary we expected traffic to be heavy.  With a long and potentially slow drive ahead we opted to retrace our steps on the more direct east coast route of Highway 1 and the Hibiscus Coast Highway.

Slow traffic on Hibiscus Coast Highway near Orewa

Once again we had chosen the beach front site at Orewa for our stopover.

We had stayed here on our first night but the tropical storm denied us the opportunity to explore.  This time the weather was fair and the beach was buzzing with Bank Holiday weekend visitors.

Next to our site was the summer beach party meet of the Hibiscus Rodders.  A collection of concourse prepared hot rods that would cruise the town on Saturday evening and then parade along the sea front boulevard on Sunday.

Hibiscus Rodders Summer Beach Party

With a brisk onshore wind the sea was packed with sail boarders and kite boarders.  Their acrobatics kept us entertained as we walked the length of the beach to the distant hill-top view point.

Kite boarding and sail boarding

Orewa Beach from Lookout

To the sounds of supercharged V8 American muscle cars we left Orewa for another flyby of Auckland city centre.  Across the harbour bridge and past the iconic Sky Tower once again on our way to the mighty Waikato River.

Auckland skyline from Northern Motorway