In New Zealand, I did a road trip with two other travelers around my age in Northland.
Northland is the very top of the north island above Auckland.
We went by car and 2 of us shared a tent and one of us slept in the car, and we stayed on campgrounds.
Our whole trip took 3 nights and 4 whole days.
We started together in Auckland and worked our way up on the east side where there is more to see in my opinion and drove down on the west side of Northland.
The three of us really wanted to see much of the nature and tried to find the most beautiful waterfalls, hikes and beaches and I would say it worked even though I haven’t seen what the rest of the hikes and waterfalls look like.
I was totally impressed by all the nature up there.

Auckland – Whangarei

We started in Auckland and drove up to Whangarei and passed the coastal town Mangawhai to take the scenic route and not the fast route.
The total drive to Whangarei was 2.5 hours.
There we went shopping for the next few days.
You will find more shops in Northland, but they are definitely not everywhere.
In Whangarei, we took a look at Whangarei falls, which was only a 5-minute walk from the top.
You could also swim in there, but it was very cold, and you should always be careful.

Whangarei – Paihia

We drove another hour to Paihia where we put up our tent on a motor park, which we noticed when the owner laughed at our small tent in the morning.
One of us slept in the car on a nearby “Countdown” parking lot, so we didn’t have to pay for the car, but only for the tent.
I am sure you will find a proper campground there as well if you have a tent, and there is also a hostel and other accommodation.
We only went for a night walk and had dinner in Paihia.

Paihia – Rainbow falls

The next morning we drove 30 minutes to Rainbow falls, which was a 10-minute walk to the fall, and you can actually see a rainbow in the water vapor there.
You should not miss this waterfall!

Rainbow falls – Mahinepua Peninsula walking track

Our next stop was after a 40-minute drive to the Mahinepua Peninsula walking track.
It was one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done.
The turquoise ocean meeting the green grass of the small islands is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
The walk was 4.5 kilometers and took us 1.5 hours.
It was not too hard, and you could go a longer or a shorter track near the top, but we took both of them.
We had our lunch break at the beach where we parked our car and it was so peaceful and quiet.

Mahinepua Peninsula walking track – Ngapae Holiday Park

The last stop of the second day was our campground after a 1 hour and 15-minute drive, and a stop at a supermarket in Kaitaia.
The campground was only a 5-minute walk from Ninety Mile beach, the owner was really nice and it was pretty cheap.
There are people who are permanently living in motor homes there, but they are pretty open and the rest of the campground was empty, so we had the kitchen and bathroom nearly to ourselves.
In the evening, we went for a sunset swim in the ocean, which was just magical.

Ngapae Holiday Park – Giant Sand Dunes

In the morning, we drove 1 hour and 15 minutes to the Giant Sand Dunes.
There you can rent a body board.
You will need cash though and have to hand in a deposit, like a passport.
We walked up the sand dune and had an amazing view from the top to the ocean and a forest inland.
In one steep place people already slid down the dune with their body boards, so we joined, and it was great fun except walking up the hill again.

Giant Sand Dunes – Cape Reinga

From there it is only a 20-minute drive to Cape Reinga which is a lighthouse and the most northern point of New Zealand.
You can walk to the lighthouse in 10 minutes, and it is such a beautiful view there!
You should definitely not miss out on this, even though many people told me it would not be worth it to drive all the way up there from Kaitaia because you will have to drive the same way back.
I am so happy we did it anyway because everything is truly beautiful on the way up there.

Cape Reinga – Ngapae Holiday Park

On our way back down, we decided it would be best to go back to the same campground even though we already packed our stuff because we wouldn’t have been able to get much further down.
So we put up the tent again and me and one friend went to the beach to dance in the dark and go skinny-dipping while our other friend took a nap because he was driving all the time.

Ngapae Holiday Park – Tane Mahuta

The next day we decided to drive all the way back down to Auckland because my friend and I had to catch flights two days after and all of us still wanted to go clubbing in Auckland.
So we took the drive of 3 hours to Tane Mahuta which is the biggest Kauri tree in New Zealand and actually really impressive.
We drove a cruisy road through Waipoua forest, which was beautiful with all these Kauri trees.
Kauri trees are indigenous to the region of Northland in New Zealand and can only be found there.
They are the largest species of trees in New Zealand.
We planned on taking the Narrows Wharf ferry on our way which would have been faster, but it was closed which we realized when we were already there which made our way a bit longer.

Tane Mahutua – Auckland

It is another 3 hours to get to Auckland from there, and it was a long day driving for all of us.
It was a good decision to do the long drive though because all of us were able to enjoy the night in Auckland.

You can definitely take more time and see more of Northland, do more hikes and visit more museums.
These are some things we decided to skip, which you could include.

Things you have to pay for:

Cruise to the hole in the rock (Paihia)

This is a cruise that takes you to a rock in the water that has a hole in it and if you are lucky you can see dolphins from the boat.
They will drive through that hole, and you will do a walk on an island.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds (Waitangi)

This is a Māori town where you can learn about the culture of Māoris.

Ngawha Springs

This is a thermal pool that you have to pay entrance to.

We also skipped Maitai bay because we would have had to take a detour before Kaitaia to get there, and we decided we didn’t have the time, and it wasn’t really necessary.

This was such a great road trip with a lot of driving but totally worth for all of this beautiful nature and moments with the people.
Many people will rather travel south of Auckland because you can see more and can also get to the south island, but I can only recommend doing Northland as well.