Foxton Beach - the beach as a playground for young and old

The crossing to the North Island without significant waves in sunny weather was already pleasant. Since we only had the noon ferry, we could pack in peace and then set up camp in the evening on a very beautifully located campsite less than an hour away from Wellington. Although it was quite close to the capital, it was in the middle of remote nature in the forest by a river.

And the weather gods were relatively kind to us in the following days as well. That's why we decided to hang out near the beach for a few days. But which beach to choose? Our first idea was Castlepoint on the east coast, quite remote and only accessible via a small cul-de-sac over many kilometers. Luckily, we asked the only campground there beforehand, and it was fully booked! The solution to the puzzle: the following Monday was Waitangi Day, a major national holiday in honor of the Waitangi Treaty with the Maori (see Bay of Island post). So it was a long weekend with beautiful weather...and all Kiwis on the road.

Alternatively, we drove up to the west coast in the Foxton and Himatangi Beach area. There were several campsites that still had room for a tent. Initially, a beautiful little road led us away from HW 2 to HW 1, so we didn't have to go back to Wellington and simply followed the coast.

We spent the first night at Himatangi Beach, the campground was also very nice, but the place itself...everything was pretty rundown. That's why we changed to the neighboring Foxton Beach the next day, where it was so beautiful that we stayed for 3 days. A huge beach with sand dunes and a river mouth were a great sight, right from the tent. And when the long weekend was over, we almost had the place to ourselves and there wasn't much going on at the beach either.

Unlike on Waitangi Day. The beach looked like a big playground, and the Kiwis brought all their toys along. With their SUV or quad and fishing gear right to the water, with the enduro bike in the dunes, with the kiteboard on the water, or with the horse through the sand...The beach is also an official road, signs indicate a speed limit of 30. After a beach walk in the morning, I felt like exploring the beach with my orange toy. It was quite fun, but I decided to skip the dunes...

We also paid a little visit to the Dutch-influenced town of Foxton, located a few kilometers inland. Besides a few beautiful houses, there was a pretty windmill and a cafe with Dutch specialties, of course, all in orange. The poffertjes and the cake were very tasty. Another specialty of Foxton is the Foxton Fizz soda, which has been available in different flavors since 1918. We tried the bright green Lime flavor. It's amazing that this soda has been around for about 100 years, but it certainly can't be because of the taste...it was basically just green sugar water with a hint of lime flavor. So, we better stick to the Australian Bundaberg sodas.