There’s something genuinely satisfying about driving to the very tip of a country. Whether it’s the northern or southern limit, you’re always going to have the most extreme of something; rugged and cold or warm and tropical.

With Auckland being a particularly skinny stretch of the country, we’ve become pretty fond of the long drive up or down, rather than side to side. This time it was up, right to the top of our small corner of the world, with the treats of the north beckoning us; warm waves, camp spots galore & with bikes on the back, some of the biggest dunes in the country for riding.

Once the white sand had subbed itself in for the tarmac & we found ourselves spending our nights tucked away in the dunes, a weeks trip turned into two, or three… I can’t quite remember. There aren’t many stretches of coastline in the country where you can spend a week searching around, and not hit asphalt once.

Gravel, rocky points & sand highways had become the norm, with the back of the truck & tent on top our temporary homes. The northern time warp had well & truly sucked us in. Not a bad place to call the end of the road.