Episode 088

Waterfalls, Beaches, Geothermal Wonders and Other Hidden Gems in the North Island with Barbie Sharma

17 May 2024 37 min

Episode 088

0:00 / 37:20

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Barbie works full time. She's a radio presenter and an early childhood educator, and on the weekends she's out finding waterfalls, beaches and sunsets around the North Island and sharing them with her community online. Her motto is that it's doable, and she wants to normalise working full time and travelling on the weekends.

I love this so much, because that's what most people's lives look like. And so many of us live in Auckland and don't make the most of everything that's right on our doorstep. (Guilty. Some of the places Barbie mentioned have been sitting in my saved maps for years.)

So we get into how she plans weekend trips around a nine to five and the weather, her birthday trip to Waikawau Tunnel Beach, how she finds hidden gems, her favourite spots from Rotorua to the Bay of Plenty, and the day her husband took her to a "new country" for their anniversary.

In this episode

Barbie's story and her love of road trips
Planning weekend trips around a full-time job
Waikawau Tunnel Beach, a birthday road trip
How to find hidden gems in the North Island
Barbie's North Island favourites
The Forgotten World Highway and Whangamōmona

Barbie's story and her love of road trips

Barbie is from India and arrived in New Zealand in 2015, with a passion for creative media and for teaching. You can have more than one passion, she says. Since then she's been juggling roles as a radio presenter, an early childhood educator and a budding travel influencer.

Travel has been her passion since childhood. In India she visited beautiful temples, historical landmarks and serene mountains, and her parents always supported her curiosity, taking the family on road trips. That sparked a lifelong love of travel and discovery.

Road trips are still her favourite way to travel: long drives, background music, scenic landscapes and small towns. She's travelled solo only once. She likes having someone to share her immediate reaction with when she sees a new place, so she usually travels with her husband.

I feel the same about sharing those moments. When I first planned a big road trip in New Zealand, around Northland with my now husband and a childhood friend, I wasn't on Instagram much. I googled everything and printed out a map of the North Island to plot all the points on. It was so fun.

Barbie has noticed the places she used to go are busier now. She thinks COVID made people realise the value of being outdoors and making the most of nature.

Planning weekend trips around a full-time job

Working full time makes it a challenge, but Barbie says it's totally achievable with efficient planning and prioritising. Her approach:

Keep a list. Thanks to social media, there are so many videos, reels and photos of places. She notes them down, saves them for later and does some research.
Check the calendar. She works weekdays, so trips fit into Saturdays and Sundays.
Stay close to Auckland, so the trip isn't eaten up by driving, and pick places with a lot to see and do.
Start early, especially in winter when the days are shorter.
Watch the weather. It's one of the key factors in every plan.

She calls work-life balance one of the greatest barriers to travelling around New Zealand, and planning is how you get past it.

When I worked full time, I struggled to find time for even little trips to the Waitākere or Hunua Ranges. Now that I'm self-employed, I still have to plan weekends away. They don't just happen. And the weather is the thing I struggle with most, so I asked Barbie how she works around it.

Waikawau Tunnel Beach, a birthday road trip

Barbie had a birthday trip lined up, and when they checked the weather, it wasn't in their favour. So rather than cancel, they went a day or two before her birthday: an advance birthday celebration. It turned out to be one of her most memorable trips.

Her husband planned it. She'd been longing to see Waikawau Tunnel Beach ever since she saw pictures of it, and he decided this was the time. It's about a four hour drive from Auckland, but Barbie loves a long drive, so the drive itself was lovely.

The tunnel to the beach

The tunnel is a five minute walk from the car park, an easy stroll, and you can see the beach through it as you walk. A pōhutukawa tree adds to the beauty. The tunnel itself, she says:

"felt like a hidden portal. It felt like a dream … a dreamy place."

There was no one else on the beach, so it felt like they'd discovered their own paradise. And there's no Instagram versus reality here: it looks exactly like the pictures and videos. The sunset from the beach was one of the most amazing she's seen in New Zealand.

When Barbie shared it, I realised I'd already saved it in my maps and had never been. It's a good reminder to actually go to all the places I've saved.

Three Sisters, Elephant Rock and staying flexible

For special occasions they book accommodation, to relax and unwind and spend time together, and it let them see more of the area. They went to the Three Sisters and Elephant Rock in the morning, then to the tunnel for sunset, because she didn't want to miss it.

They'd planned another waterfall for the next day, but they were overtired, slept in and couldn't fit it in. That's okay, Barbie says. Spontaneity is part of the beauty of travelling:

"Doesn't matter how efficient our planning is things just don't go our way sometimes and that's why we need to be a bit flexible."

I have my own waterfall memory from that area. We'd stopped at some falls on the way back to Auckland after a two-day hike on Mount Taranaki, and my legs were so so sore. It's a short walk but down a lot of steps, and I hobbled down every one while a group of seniors with hiking poles flew past me.

How to find hidden gems in the North Island

Barbie's tips for finding places off the beaten track:

Read travel articles and magazines, especially about New Zealand.
Use the apps you already have. Google Earth and FATMAP show you places you don't usually find with a Google search.
Save reels and photos as you go, so you can come back to them when you're planning.
Say yes to spontaneous trips sometimes, too, at least once in your life.

One of her favourite finds was a lesser-known waterfall at the end of a short, easy bushwalk. It felt like walking through the Jungle Book, or a goblin forest, and the waterfall is a pretty, cute one rather than a big cascade. A tucked-away spot for nature lovers.

Barbie's North Island favourites

Barbie thinks the North Island is often overlooked, and every city and town has its own special feature:

Rotorua, the geothermal wonderland. She's been many times and there's still more to explore, including Waimangu Volcanic Valley, which is on her list. She also recommends Hamurana Springs: so many wonders, and affordable.
Waitomo, for thrilling caving adventures.
Raglan, a surfing paradise, and a must if you're visiting Auckland.
Tūrangi, the fishing capital of New Zealand, and she tries the pies every time she goes.

I love Rotorua too. I'm obsessed with the free little mud pools at Wai-O-Tapu, and we love the Redwoods. There are so many paid activities that we can't do them all in a weekend, so every time we go back we try a different thermal park or hot pool.

The road to Tauranga

Auckland itself has plenty of gems and hikes for day trips. Then on the way to Tauranga there's so much to see:

Karangahake Gorge
Owharoa Falls
Waihī Beach
Tauranga and the Mount, with Mount Maunganui main beach
Omanawa Falls, Kaiate Falls and McLaren Falls. Barbie had recently been to Omanawa Falls, which had been closed for a while.

Plenty of people who message her are planning a trip with most of their time in the South Island and two or three days in the North. She always recommends Rotorua and Raglan.

East Cape, Northland and the southern North Island are still on Barbie's list. They're far from Auckland, and she needs more than two days.

I've been talking to my husband about a North Island only road trip: up to Northland, back through Auckland, Raglan, the west coast, Taranaki, down to Wellington and up the East Coast.

The Forgotten World Highway and Whangamōmona

When I mentioned the Forgotten World Highway, between Taumarunui and Taranaki, Barbie had a story. For their first anniversary she kept teasing her husband about an international trip to a new country. He said he'd take her to one.

So they drove the Forgotten World Highway to Whangamōmona, the "secret country" in New Zealand. There's a sign welcoming you to Whangamōmona, and on the way out another says goodbye and welcome back to New Zealand. Look, he told her, you explored a new country on our anniversary. It's so much fun, and it does feel like a different country.

When we recorded, Barbie was looking forward to festivals coming up in May, including the Bluff Oyster Festival and the NZ Art Show.