“Coastal Farm Park” hardly inspires visions of Northland beauty. I could scarcely bring myself to venture out during a spell of hard rain. Glad I did.
‘Mimi’ is gorgeous, special, and virtually unknown to anyone except veteran Northland explorers. In a weird way the peninsula is “unspoiled". This is weird because there are sheep, cows, and fences everywhere and most all the native bush is gone. But it seems “unspoiled” because there’s no nearby highway, nor baches, nor Dairy, nor caravan park…just sheep and shorebreak, cows and coves, fences and whangatas. You can’t even stay the night unless you carry your camp gear to the walk-in camp area. Unspoiled.
Let me get personal for a moment. I didn’t expect much coming here. It was raining. But once I tramped out I ended up on a 3-hour jaunt. Incredibly, the entire place is a 360o viewpoint. I danced and thanked the gods that I get to explore places like this and call it work. I met two people all day, both old-time Kiwis…both told me that Mimi is the “real deal.”
Signage at the park denotes all kinds of tracks, but you can really just ramble wherever you want…aquamarine bays, golden beaches, scattered islands…coves and headlands galore! I’ll try not to say “Sweet As” again. Don’t miss the 30-minute track up to the 80m lookout, which then loops down to the camp—fantastic afternoon views!
Mimiwhangata and its northern bro’ Whangaruru are the uncommercialized antidote for anyone suffering a Paihia tourism overdose.
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Nice walk around the