Before going away camping at New Years (as time-honoured tradition dictated) Shyla and I took a day trip up north, to the scenic town of Matakana and the area around. We started our day with ice cream from Charlies, one of the best places for gelato ice cream in New Zealand (in my humble opinion). Although still extremely nice, it was interesting to see how my time away had perhaps changed my taste-buds. It was no longer as mind blowingly good as I remember, but I still recommend giving it a taste!
Matakana village is well worth a visit just to wander around. Settled in 1842, it's retained its rural charm and remains a picturesque village, full of artisan shops and fancy delis. Saturday is a great day to visit for the Farmers market, which is brilliant for lunch supplies for a picnic, though it is admittedly overpriced.
If you fancy a bit of shade it's quite nice to wander just past the market and down to the wooden jetty, where you can sit in the shade, legs swinging over the water, and watch the eels drift past (literally!).
Feeling replete after our giant icecreams, we headed for the quarry, a local hang-out spot that I had good memories of from years before.
The old cement works were begun in the 1800s by a Scottish immigrant, and saw a boom in the early 1900s, causing a number of large buildings to be built (and it is these which remain to this day). However industry soon moved elsewhere and it closed down in 1929.
With the filling of the old quarry, it became a swim spot and today is fairly popular, though still only really known by the locals.
Admittedly I have only ever paddled in the lake, as I have a deep and completely illogical fear of freshwater sharks, however I'm sure it's lovely (and no children have been eaten yet!)
Our next stop was a local Kauri tree which is also only a few minutes from Matakana. Kauri trees are indigenous to New Zealand, and are one of the biggest and oldest species of tree in the world. This one was about 800-900 years old!!
Our next stop back down the coast was the lookout point on the way down to Orewa beach, where we fondly remembered many childhood days spent climbing the hill up to Shylas parents house, or spontaneous swims in the ocean. 
Our last stop for the day was the small and tucked away Swann beach, where we had occasionally stepped foot in during our teenage years. It's a lovely and tiny stretch of beach only really known to locals but worth visiting if it isn't too busy! Usually the water is very clear, and perfect for a dip.
I got my Pohutukawa climbing fix much to my delight, as these trees were one of the things I had missed while I was away.
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