Great Barrier Island

Great Barrier Island is a decent sized island out in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf (it's the biggest island in the Hauraki Gulf). You get there either by plane or by boat. A boat ride on a Fuller's quick cat takes a couple of hours and costs $99, the plane costs about $75 one way (that was in 1996 anyway). An alternative is to take a freight boat which costs only $20 - $30 one way. The disadvantage of that is that they take 6 hours to get there and you have to fit in with their timetables (they only leave on certain days of the week and only go to certain harbours - either Whangaparapara or Tryphena). There's plenty to do on the island. There are some beautiful beaches on the Eastern side, and sheltered harbours on the western side. Tramping is also a popular pursuit on the island, with some beautiful bush scenery. Fishing, snorkelling, kayaking, diving and cycling are some other things to do. We talked to a couple who had done an overnight kayak tour, paddling around the Northern part of the island - they said it was fantastic, especially meeting up with dolphins!

There are several options for transport on the island. You can do it cheaply (like us) and hitch-hike. Most of the locals are quite willing to pick people up, although you do have to be a bit patient. Another option is buses (they run backwards and forwards from the main towns quite regularly), but their prices can be a bit over-the-top. However they can be a good backup if your hitchhiking efforts don't get you very far. There are also taxis available and you can take the fullers boat from harbour to harbour (on the western side) too.

There are also several options for accommodation. There are DOC campgrounds (the option we took) which are campgrounds with basic facilities like long drops and cold water. They cost $6 a night I think. There are DOC campgrounds in all the popular places on the island. There are also commercial campgrounds which are similarly quite cheap - you might pay a little bit more for a few more facilities. There are also Youth Hostels, Backpackers lodges and more upper class kind of lodges on the island. Another option is to rent a house on the island, if you're really rich.

Here is an account on the 7 day holiday we had on Great Barrier Island back in the summer of January 96.

We arrived at Great Barrier (Tryphena wharf) in the early afternoon. It had turned into a very hot, sunny day - everything we had hoped for. Our next task was to transport ourselves somehow to a place to camp. We were lucky to discover that one of the crew of the boat knew a guy who had a truck and was driving somewhere past where we wanted to end up. This was good news, as we had heard the buses were very expensive (which we found out was correct). The guy in the truck was happy enough to take us, so we piled on the back of his truck, together with boxes of produce, pieces of furniture and several teenagers related to the driver. It was a hot day to be sitting in the back of a truck, but it provided an interesting way to see the island scenery. What we saw looked very inviting - mainly blue, blue water and white, white sand. Our destination was a farm where we had heard people are allowed to camp for a very cheap price, where we planned to spend 3 nights. We didn't actually know the exact location, but luckily the truck driver knew the place we wanted, so dropped us off there. Our next ordeal was having to knock on the guy's door and ask if we could camp. Trudy doesn't mind this kind of thing, so she did the honours. The contents of the house revealed two old men, who looked a little surprised at our request. They gave us permission though, and one of these old men walked a little way with us to show us where to camp. It was quite a way to walk really - actually it wasn't that far, but Karlene and Jeff had very old packs that weren't too comfortable to carry. Trudy and I rejoiced in our recently acquired super duper comfortable packs. We arrived in the general area of the camp site, and set about looking for a suitable place to set up camp. We finally agreed on a shady area on the other side of the ditch. It was a very pretty little camping area - nice shady trees and a little stream running through, however the lack of toilet facilities was not welcomed by some. After setting up camp, we decided it was time for a swim at Medlands beach, from which we were 5 minutes walk. A few of us weren't too pleased with the cows in the paddock (or with the things that the cows had produced for us to walk though in the paddock), but it was worth it for the first look at the beautiful surf beach. The swim was very pleasant - even Karlene didn't find anything to be upset about. After this first refreshing try of the Barrier waters, we decided to try a reputed swimming hole upstream from our campsite. Our discovery was that shady swimming holes are usually extremely cold. However it was also very refreshing to rid ourselves of the sand and salt.

The next day (3rd January) we decided it was time to try our hand at hitch hiking. Our first experiment was an attempt to get to the Claris Store which was about 7 km from our campsite. The sun was hot and it was a sticky job. We started the walk in hope that someone would pick us up, but we got quite a way before we had success. Rae, Karlz, Trudy and Tasha got picked up by a guy in an air conditioned jeep (lovely!) but Jeff and Brendan decided to catch the bus (for a small fee) - they were almost to the store, though they didn't know it. The store was well equipped, although the prices were rather steep. We stayed there for a while and had lunch. Our next feat was getting back to Medlands, which was eventually achieved with varying degrees of success (or maybe we walked the whole way? I can't remember). The afternoon was spent on the beach in all probability. We went snorkelling around a little rock outcrop at the southern end of Medlands. It was brilliant! The visibility was perfect and there were lots of little fishies (and some quite big ones) to see.

Next day we decided to make our way to the Kaitoke hot springs, located near Whangaparapara - about another 10 km further on from Claris. Everyone made it there eventually, some having to walk more of it than others (again in the oppressing heat) and some having to fork out a bit of money for the bus. Then we made the 30 minute walk into the bush to get to the springs. Due to recent rain, the paths were adorned with some very swampy patches. This involved either getting muddy up to the knees, or making delicate steps around the sides of big marshy areas. At the springs there were about 10 other people already bathing. We hid in the bush to change into our swimming gear and then immersed ourselves in the lovely warm water. The water in the main part was very warm indeed and got too hot after 10 minutes or so. After this relaxing swim we had lunch and then decided it was time to get back. Trudy, Tasha, Karlene and I had wonderful luck at our hitchhiking efforts, and almost immediately thumbed down a truck with very friendly people who gave us a ride in the back right up to Claris Store. Brendan and Jeff weren't so lucky and walked about 5 km before finally getting a ride. After an iceblock at Claris we made our way back, again with varying degrees of success.

The day after it was time for action since Karlene, Jeff and Tasha were heading home. They were a bit worried about getting to the boat (back in Port Fitzroy) in time, so they made an early start. We stayed around for a while to make sure they got a ride. They eventually offered someone $20 to get them there. After they left, Trudy and Brendan and I started off to get to Harataonga, a beach further North that we had heard was very nice. This time we had heavy packs to lug around, so we weren't so keen to walk the whole way. We got to Claris ok (by thumbing down a passing bus). After Claris we waited for a while without success, before a bus came past. We decided the opportunity was too good to pass up, so thumbed the bus down. The Bus driver told us that we would take us to Harataonga, but he had to go to Okupu (where he lived) for a few hours to get some sleep. We though this was a pretty good deal (it cost $15 which isn't bad considering) so we agreed. His house a Okupu was connected to the beach by a little track. We left our packs in the bus and took the track down to the beach. It was a little sheltered bay - not as spectacular as the Eastern surf beaches though. We had a little snorkel around and saw a few fish (not as nice as Medlands though). The weather had turned a little overcast as this stage, and after our swim it started to rain, cutting short a promising excursion over the rocks. We huddled under a tree to shelter, watching the local wildlife - an excited dog and a few horses. When we got back up to the bus drivers house, he showed us around, and we had a good nosy at his generators - this was quite fascinating. He then took us down to Harataonga (a DOC campground). It was a beautiful little spot. We were going to leave the next day to do some tramping for a few days, but we decided to stay at Harataonga an extra day because it was so nice. The best thing was that there was a little vegetable stall there and we were able to have proper potatoes for dinner! That was a very welcome change after the dried mashed potatoes we had been eating. That night we walked down to the beach and met a very strange person fishing on the beach with a surf caster. He tried to get us enthusiastic about fishing (he runs fishing tours) and showed us the basics of using a surf caster which were basically stand next to it checking the line to see if you have a bite. No fish were unfortunate enough to take the bait that night, and we found out that surf casting is a very boring occupation. At last we were able to escape from him and complete our walk down the beach.

The next day we went for a walk to a neighbouring beach (about 30 mins away). The beach was deserted when we got there, and we didn't see another person the whole day! It was very nice having a beach to ourselves. The water was a bit cold though and we spent most of our time lying in the sun. Brendan built a bit sand structure for me and Trudy to admire. We went back to the campground for dinner, but before we could cook it the strange man we had met on the beach offered us some of his Shark Stew (made from the remains of a big shark which had been washed up on the beach a few days ago). We were too polite to refuse, so we tasted the fishy substance, which proved to be edible if a bit suspicious. After dinner we swam at the Harataonga beach, which was fabulous! The water was really nice and warm and the surf was just right (not too rough, but fun to splash around in). We also had a nice cold shower which was extremely freezing.

Next morning we had to be up nice and early for the early bus - the only transport to the top of the hill. From the top of the hill we waited and hoped for someone to give us a ride to Windy Canyon - the start of the Mt Hobson walk which we were planning to do that day. We knew there was a bus at around midday if we got desperate, but we also knew that would greatly hinder our walking. We though we were doomed since only one car went past in about 3/4 an hour. We were half way through a card game when a van came past so we scrambled to stick our thumbs out. They stopped! Hurray! They had actually come from our campground which was a bit ironic because that would have saved us getting up so early and paying for the bus. We were quite lucky because it was only about 10am when we got to Windy Canyon, giving us plenty of time for the 8 hour tramp ahead. The first league of the tramp involved going up, up, up to Mt Hobson, the highest point of Great Barrier. It was a steep climb and made worse by carrying our packs (will all our gear) on our backs. But it was actually easier than we anticipated, and we made very good time on it. We stopped up the top for quite a long time (maybe an hour) while we had lunch and savoured the magnificent view. We though that the worst was over, and we were sort of right since the rest was downhill. However it was very steep and long downhill involving lots and lots of steps and steep banks which we had to lower ourselves on wire cables. It took quite a long time, and Brendan was made annoyed by having to wait for me and Trudy quite often. There were a few Kauri dams on the way down - the biggest one made a really nice photograph. Trudy convinced us to make a 1.5 hour detour to the Castle Rock lookout, which was a nice view, but not worth the 1.5 hour detour. From that point on we seemed to run out of steam, and although it was flat ground the rest of the way it seemed to take forever! We finally arrived at a cabin. We debated whether to stay the night there or to make the extra tramp to the camping ground at Port Fitzroy. Despite being absolutely stuffed, we decided on the extra walk since it was only about 30 minutes more apparently. This was made and we finally made it to the camping ground (we hitched a ride for the last little bit of it). It was probably about 8.00pm when we got to the camping ground. Dinner tasted absolutely yummy that night - dehydrated mince never tasted so nice.

The next day we were thinking of doing a tramp to some waterfalls, but we had aching, aching legs, so we talked Trudy out of it (maybe next time). Instead we walked to Port Fitzroy store where we had an ice block and bought some muscles. That afternoon we caught the Fullers boat from the Port Fitzroy wharf to Whangaparapara, our next stop. We soon discovered that Whangaparapara is a very tiny settlement consisting of a wharf and a shop and hardly any people. The campground was a fair walk from the wharf, and our sore legs didn't help at all. There was a shop on the way though, from which we bought some special treats (two packets of biscuits and milk). We took a nice little short cut across the estuary to get to the campground (luckily the tide was out). The campground was completely empty and looked like it hadn't been occupied for 2 years. We did a bit of snorkelling in the warm waters, however it was cut short by the arrival of an enormous stingray which nearly gave me and Trudy a heart attack. After dinner we walked back to the wharf to try our luck with fishing using our little hand lines. It turned out our luck was very poor and we didn't catch a single thing. Still it was a nice evening sitting on the wharf watching the sun setting. We also met some nice people who lived in a house boat and they told us a bit about their lives.

That was our last day at Great Barrier, and the next morning we packed up ready to leave. We did the trek to the wharf (we couldn’t cut through the estuary this time because the tide was in) and looked around for our boat. There wasn't any. This was quite worrying for us. We asked around and found out that the boat wasn't coming into Whangaparapara today! Shock, gasp! As you can imagine we were very annoyed considering we had rung up just the day before to confirm our booking. We conveyed our displeasure to them and had several offers of people offering to take us over to Tryphena (where the boat was leaving from), but they came through and sent us a yute driven by two hoons to pick us up. So we got a nice scenic drive all the way from Whangaparapara to Tryphena, which gave us the opportunity to see Claris and Medlands Beach one more time. We arrived at the Tryphena wharf and saw that our boat looked quite run down and rusty. We imagined the reaction it would have got from the three who had left earlier (notorious moaners). However it looked like it floated so we chucked our packs on it and walked to the shops (about 3 km away). It was very very hot and walking on the road proved a very sweaty experience. We finally made it though and bought some nice cool drinks and other food. The walk back proved just as hot, although we managed to hitch a ride for the last 1 km. On the way home in the rusty boat we played cards, and drunk lots of beer, provided by a very friendly American guy. All in all we were glad to make it back to civilisation - those flush toilets were a real novelty!

Some More Great Barrier Island Information