Kaitaia
Kaitaia, is the last major town as you travel to the top of New Zealand. It’s about 116 kms south of Cape Reinga, has a good shopping centre, a variety of cafés and restaurants, a museum and an i-SITE Visitor Information Centre.
An old gum digger
Kaitaia is a 4 to 5 hour drive from Auckland via the Twin Coast Discovery Highway travelling either the east coast or west coast of Northland. A daily express coach service is available to and from Auckland and there's a national airport here too.
The town can cater for most accommodation requirements and conference facilities are available in the area. It is also a starting point for tours which leave Kaitaia daily, taking in the scenery by air or on land.
A busy farming town, it also supports vineyards (there's an award winning vineyard about 3kms out of town) and fruit growing - especially avocados. Like most rural towns Kaitaia has its very own annual Agricultural & Pastoral Show, well over a hundred years old and one of the oldest in New Zealand.
Its Maori and European history is long and rich - with a strong Dalmatian community harking back to the days of the gum digging boom. The Far North Regional Museum has moa, kiwi and gum digging displays, early transport and communication history, and the work of Arthur Northwood and his brothers from early last century - the Northwood Photographic Collection.
The surrounding areas are home to many skilled craftspeople working in wood, pottery, paint, glass, ceramics, flax, bone, and greenstone.
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