Tutukaka, Whangarei, and my new tent

The next morning, Lorena and I got up uber early so we could drive to Tutukaka (yes, I know that's funny...I still giggle when I say it) so she could go scuba diving at Poor Knight's Island.  We packed up and left at 6:30am (!!!) and had another wee road trip to get to the boat by 8:15.  We passed cows on parade, but they didn't cross the road in front of us so we reached Tutukaka without incident.  I dropped her off and went on a wee exploration myself.  I backtracked to Matapouri to explore the Mermaid Pool that Lonely Planet mentioned.  It's supposed to be a gorgeous clear saltwater pool hidden away at the north end of a beach that you reach by following a track in the grass through an "unlikely looking hole in the rock".  So, I put on my swimsuit, got out the camera, and walked along the beach to the north where I could expect a little adventure to a small piece of private, aquatic heaven.  The beach was lovely

the picture on the right shows the path to the mermaid pool

But the "unlikely looking hole in the rock" was blocked.  A couple locals were right behind me and I asked them about the Mermaid Pool.  They said that the caved in area we were staring at was the entrance, but an earthquake had blocked the way back in January.  You can still reach it, but you have to climb up a really steep hill and then climb the steep way back down to get there.  He highly recommended I do it with another person, so instead of hiking to the pool alone, I decided to not be a stupid tourist and took a wee path in the grass to a deserted black rock beach.  It was really stunning and so nice to find my own private beach!

After my brief, and slightly disappointing, foray into the local bush, I drove down to Whangarei to visit the waterfalls and set up the campsite.  I stopped at a lookout point on my way down the coast

And finally arrived at Whangarei Falls.

There were a few trails around the area, so I started on a wee tramp down the river, over a bridge, through a field and stopped to stick my feet in the river

Further along the track in the bush, I found a boardwalk around some old Kauri trees and over an offshoot of the river.  It was a lovely tramp through the bush.

On my way back to the falls, I walked past a couple cows.  I tried to make friends with the one closest to me.  Despite my efforts to be friendly and try to feed him what he was already eating, he got scared and ran away.  Spineless, but cute.

Back at the campsite, I set up my new tent for the first time!

I realize one is supposed to try setting up a tent before they use it... but I'm not exactly a role model for pre-planning :)  Regardless, the tent went up and I think it's cute!

I picked Lorena up from her trip, which was amazing I'm told, and after a lazy dinner at a bar we had a thrilling evening doing laundry at the campsite.  It rained really hard that night and despite a scare in the wee hours of the morning that the car window was open (it wasn't, phew!) we stayed pretty dry.  A few drops got into the tent from the rain fly from getting in and out, but no harm done.  So, hooray for my new tent!  I'm excited to try it out on a true backpacking trip.  Stay tuned for future tenting adventures...