Pouto Point back to Dargaville

Pouto Point is a further 20 km south of Kellys Bay on the North Head of the Kaipara Harbour - more gravel road, but not corrugated, and we were able to enjoy the views of the bush, farmland, pine forests, stands of toi-toi and flax and the odd little lake on the undulating drive yesterday.
Kaipara Harbour is the largest harbour, by area in the southern hemisphere and one of the largest in the world with a convoluted shoreline of over 800 km so there are lots of areas to explore around the harbour some distance from the main road. For example, Pouto Point is about 67 km south of Dargaville so double that for the return trip. The harbour inlet is a hostile place with big waves over large treacherous sandbars thus being the graveyard for more ships than anywhere else in NZ - over 100 I believe so it would be rare for it to be used for shipping.

The perfect fishing spot!

Poutu Point has some holiday homes and just a few permanent residents with what looks like a great little fishing spot from a large flat rock on the beach - it has 4-5 rod stands already concreted in the rock. What should have been a good fishing day was non-productive - a bait issue we think as Len's bait had been refrozen a couple of times and there wasn't much so it wasn't long before he ran out.

Good morning Dargaville!

So instead of staying the night in the camp ground as we had planned we decided to head back to Dargaville (so we could buy some more bait - no shops in this part of the world!) arriving at the Dargaville Museum, where you can park for $10 a night, just before it closed. There are great views over the town and the river from the parking area on the hill and as the gates are locked at night we felt totally safe. We had "a red sky in the morning" but it made a beautiful reflection in the river which was a little less brown than when we last passed through.

Tokatoka 

After replenishing the bait box we headed down the other side of the Wairoa river towards our next destination of Tinopai, another little settlement on the harbour about 23 km south of Matakohe on the main road. As you drive down the road through the alluvial river plains renowned for its extensive kumera production, Dargaville being the "Kumera Capital of NZ", you see a remarkable cone-like hill right in front of you called Tokatoka Peak. So we had to stop to climb to the top - the track was very slippery, muddy and steep especially towards the top but thousands of footsteps have gouged out natural steps. It only took us about 11 minutes to go up, puffing heavily, but probably longer to come down to avoid slipping. I have to admit I didn't do the last few yards to the top and when Len got up there he thought that was a wise decision - a tiny peak high up with not much room to stand - I'm not good in those places!