West of Wellsford, the land falls away towards the Kaipara Harbour, the largest harbour in New Zealand, a vast, shallow, branching body of water that reaches deep into the farmland of Northland. Its eastern arms creep up into quiet valleys, and this stop is near one of them, a place to pause on the way back south, stretch out in the grass and cool off in the water when the tide is in.
This is a quiet corner of the country, with few people and a lot of sky. In 1862, a group of Nonconformist settlers from England arrived at nearby Port Albert, hoping to found a utopian community they called Albertland. The settlement struggled in the isolation and hard conditions, but many of the settlers stayed, and the name lives on in local institutions. The town of Wellsford itself is said to take its name from an acronym of the surnames of early settler families.
The Kaipara is tidal and shallow, with mudflats, mangroves and shell banks, so swimming is best at high tide, and only where the water is clear and the bottom firm. There are no lifeguards, and the currents in the channels can be strong, so be careful and do not swim alone. If you would prefer a surf beach, the east coast is not far: Pakiri, about half an hour away, has a long white-sand beach backed by dunes.
The roads around Wellsford are typical rural Northland: narrow, winding, sometimes gravel, with sheep, cattle and the occasional logging truck. State Highway 1, the main road north and south, can be busy, especially on Sunday afternoons when Aucklanders return from the north. Wellsford has fuel, cafés and takeaways, so use it to top up before the final stretch to the city. On the way back south, the motorway north of Ōrewa is tolled, but the old coastal road through Puhoi and Waiwera offers a free and more scenic alternative.