Northland is a forested, subtropical region at the top New Zealand’s North Island. The Bay of Islands is studded with sheltered beaches, wineries and colonial-era towns like Russell. It’s also home to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, a historic Maori site. To the West you’ll find one of the most intact Kauri forests left in the country while further north is the famed Ninety Mile Beach stretching along the west coast toward Cape Reinga. You drive this – it’s actually a road and the beach is full of tuatua shellfish.
As for the beaches, where do you start! Northland is littered with beaches for the endless curve of Ninety Mile Beach to stunning east coast destinations like Rarewa Beach where the linen white sand sqeaks under your feet.
