The Forgotten West Coast!

We have had another two spectacular days. Yesterday we drove south from Raglan on real back country roads. Up hill and down dale through wonderful bush scenery dropping down to bays and harbours or river valleys with cows grazing. Eventually we reached Tongaporuti where we had hoped to freedom camp, but the signs were uninviting! We came across an amazing 'motor home ' there complete with window box and french windows!! We drove on south to Urenui where we booked into a camp site located on the river mouth and beach. The beach here is the blackest sand I have ever seen. The sky clouded over during the late afternoon my photos were poor, however this morning we woke to beautiful blue sky, see photo later! I had a "long lie in" to quote M......until 8.30!!, yesterday was pretty tough driving.
We set off from Urenui about 9.45 and were fortunate to have clear views of Mt Taranaki/Egmont , NZ's Mount Fuji . The top was soon ringed with cloud and then completely clouded over with an hour or so. Today we have pootled along down the Surf Highway detouring from time to time, first to see a large stand of Californian redwoods at Lucy's Gully and later to see the surf and Cape Egmont lighthouse .
We stopped to make lunch in a delightful place called Karakoponui Scenic Reserve. There was an excellent campsite here too, small, but perfectly formed !!!
We then drove south for about an hour to Waverley where we turned off to look at the beach. Some great cliff/ cave scenery here on one side and a very long surf beach with ancient tree stumps on the other.
We have settled here for the night, unless we get moved on, which we think is unlikely, with a great view of sandstone cliffs and black sand bay; and the waves rolling in.
We are using the Frenzy Guide by Scott Cook which was sent to us electronically by Wilderness when we booked. Although it is probably written for a much younger clientele, we are finding his information most useful. We keep stopping to 'see what Scott says'........he has sent us to some lovely places, many well off the beaten track.
We gave been very surprised by how few tourists we have seen, especially today when we have travelling on a main highway, hence the title of this blog.
Tomorrow we are making our way to Wellington for two nights before taking the ferry to South Island......