Britz Northern Adventure - Britz

Four nights and 952 kilometres in a loop from Auckland in a campervan, up to Cape Reinga and back down the Kauri Coast.

Waipu comes first, settled by Highland Scots who arrived by way of Nova Scotia in the 1850s, then Paihia, Waitangi, where the treaty between Maori and the Crown was signed in 1840 and the grounds are now a national historic site, and Russell across the water, the first permanent European settlement in the country.

Whangaroa and Houhora harbours follow, then Ahipara at the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach, which is legally a highway and in fact rather shorter than ninety miles. Cape Reinga sits at the top, where the Tasman and the Pacific visibly collide and which is the departure point for spirits in Maori belief. Kaikohe, Dargaville and Baylys Beach close the loop down the west coast.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Five days for 952 kilometres is a brisk pace for Northland, so something gets left out. Ninety Mile Beach should not be driven in a hire camper whatever its legal status, and the bus tours exist for exactly that reason. Northland is the warmest part of the country and works year round, which makes this a sensible winter trip when the South Island passes are under snow. The Bay of Islands is the part worth two nights, with Waitangi and the boat trips out among the islands both taking most of a day.