We were pretty excited to be in Auckland for New Year’s Eve. Each year the fireworks there are the first to be shown on TV across the world, as New Zealand gets to celebrate midnight before everyone else. We decided that Devonport on its north-eastern shore would be a good bet, with views across the CBD (Central Business District), to the Sky Tower (which is the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest structure) as well as close proximity to the iconic Harbour Bridge which promised a light display.

After quite some time with friends we were happy to bring the New Year in on our own, picking an Air bnb so we could have a home-cooked meal and a fun evening of games. We were very fortunate to have chosen to stay at Jane and Paul’s home. It had a Christmas tree with gifts for Molly and Joanna under it, a delicious breakfast laid out each morning, lots of toys to play with and an enormous balcony overlooking the estuary.

We decided to walk a little further up the road for a better view of the fireworks (waking the children up for a hot chocolate!).

Our first night we drove down to the wharf, a lovely high street with numerous restaurants, we ate at Manuka and weren’t disappointed.

The next day we explored more of Devonport, enjoying a tour of the Torpedo Bay Navy Museum by Steve where we learnt a lot about New Zealand’s pivotal role in naval history. We also enjoyed trying on some uniforms!

After time in the playground we spent the afternoon on the beach, where we all had a swim. Runs were fairly brutal up Mount Victoria and round the gun emplacements on North Point, but with very rewarding views.

We were slowed down by the New Year’s Day traffic driving north up the coast, but happily made a stop at Waipu to attend their annual Highland Games which I had read about in the guidebook (just in time!) The original founders of the small town were from Scotland, but only about 10% of the current population claim Scottish ancestry. Regardless, the games have taken place annually in Caledonian Park since 1871.

What an unusual treat it was! Bagpipes, kilts and haggis were everywhere, with competitions in ceilidh dancing, farmer’s walk, caber toss and hammer throws and some fairground rides for the kids.

We had decided to stay in a motel on the poor man’s side of the Bay of Islands – in Paihia. From there it was easy to catch a ferry across to Russell, the more picturesque destination. We did exactly that one evening, enjoying dinner at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel which holds New Zealand’s oldest pub licence and serves a rather good slow-cooked lamb with dazzling sunset views.

Paihia is a quaint seaside resort, the beach lovely with several of the 150 undeveloped islands within sight. One seemed closer from the shore than it was – I took Molly on a circular trip around it on a paddleboard which was pretty hard going given the tides, but we made it (although my sunglasses didn’t…)

For the second time we lucked out on quirky entertainment: the circus was in town! Zane, Degge and Imogen are a trio of travelling street performers from Wellington who had set up for a few days. We really enjoyed their show – some of us even getting involved!

This part of the country is where the first settlers arrived and in 1840 where the much-contested Treaty of Waitangi was signed by 43 Māori tribes, granting the British sovereignty. We enjoyed walking to Haruru falls which had a rope to swing on and then visited the picturesque Kerikeri river basin, parking by Rewa’s Village.

We walked over the bridge to pretty Kemp House, dating from 1822, it is the oldest building in New Zealand. Next door we found the Stone Store (dating from 1836 it is New Zealand’s oldest stone building) with an interesting gift shop.

After climbing up the Rangikapiti Pa viewpoint for a picnic lunch overlooking cable bay and coopers beach, next on the agenda was learning about Gumdigger’s and admiring ancient Kauri trees.

We stopped off at Kauri Unearthed to see an impressive wooden staircase and went on to visit Gumdiggers Park, a rare spot where Kauri trees have been preserved in perfect condition for tens of thousands of years in a peat swamp.

We learnt about the practice of extracting gum from the sap of the trees to become amber, big business from the 1860s – 1920s and about manuka honey and tea tree oil.

The landscape was getting wilder as we hit the west coast road, visiting 90-mile beach from the Waipapakauri ramp as it began to rain.

We decided not to drive the whole way up to barren Cape Regina, instead chose to stay at Ahipara, at the start of the 90-mile beach.

We again stayed in an Air bnb, this time quite a random, standalone house. We were not alone: our first night we were visited several times by a little friend….

There was only one place in town to eat, Bay View at the Ahipara Motel, fully booked our first night, so we had to make do with a homemade stew made from tins purchased at a small corner shop. We made it back to Bay View for meat and mussels cooked on a stonegrill at our table on our second evening.

90-mile beach was truly terrifying and vast, on runs we got carried further in one direction than we might have wanted with nothing more than sand dunes and the odd four-wheel drive or horse to keep us company.

Shipwreck Bay was marginally less windy, so we managed some beach games, Tom and Molly had a quick swim and we watched some fishermen casting their line by remote controlled boat.

The contrast from the protected Bay of Islands on the east coast was striking.

Another quirky tourist spot in the area are the public toilets on Gillies Street in Kawakawa, designed by the eccentric Austrian-born artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Brightly coloured ceramics, mosaics and glass bottles decorate the interior and bring a surprising celebratory feel to the most practical of small buildings.

A related new museum is being built in Whangarei: the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairu Maori Art Gallery, due to open in 2021.

We enjoyed visiting the artsy riverside marina here, spending time in the Whangarei Art Museum, following the outside sculpture trail and watching a glassblower at work.

Despite stopping for a picnic lunch at the entrance to the Kawiti Caves, we chose to explore the nearby Abbey caves instead. These are an undeveloped network of three caverns full of glowworms and limestone foundations, we had quite an adventure climbing into these, I bumped my head and Joanna got rather wet, but it was a magical experience.

We were surprised to see llamas in the surrounding fields!

For our final two nights in Northland we stayed in a dream of an Air bnb, with Janet and Derek at Tamaterau along from Whangarei Heads. They had moved into the coastal property recently: our rooms were incredibly spacious and clean with stunning views. Derek played the piano for the girls and Tom cooked us all a bbq. We also had a delicious meal at nearby Parua Bay Tavern, the only disturbing element the strange yellow skies, coming from the Australian bushfires.

After a quick look at the 25m drop of Whangarei Falls we made our way back to Auckland to return the hire car.

We had one night left in New Zealand, staying at the Haka Lodge (getting into trouble as its policy is no under-18s but they made an exception for us!!) and then having the longest day we would ever have in our lives as we fly to Argentina.

By luck we saw that the Auckland Tennis Open was taking place that week and that ground tickets were cheap and still available.

We had a brilliant six-hours watching ladies matches, sadly not seeing Serena Williams in person but having a photo with Lauren Davis after she won her match.

We enjoyed a guided tour of the Auckland Art Gallery from Alexia, learning about New Zealand artists from Charles Goldie to Colin McCahon.

Lunch was a picnic in pretty Albert Park followed by a long walk through town to Viaduct Harbour, Wynard Quarter, winding up at the playground in Silo Park.

Back on K-Road, we completed our New Zealand adventures with an early dinner at Calamity Janes before taking an uber to the airport.

Our five fantastic weeks in New Zealand were over.