New Zealand Northland

Kerikeri, the largest town in Northland New Zealand, is a popular tourist destination about three hours drive north of Auckland. It is often called the Cradle of the Nation, being the site of the first permanent mission station in the country, and it has some of the most historic buildings in the country. The local Kerikeri slogan is "It's So Nice They Named It Twice". In the early 1980s, an anonymous backpacker wrote those words in the Visitors' Book at the Kerikeri Youth Hostel. It was brought to the attention of the then editor of the local newspaper, the Kerikeri Chronicle, who gave it publicity, and it quickly became adopted as a quasi-official slogan.

Russell is now mostly a "bastion of cafés, gift shops and B&Bs". Pompallier Mission, the historic printery/tannery/storehouse of the early Roman Catholic missionaries, can also boast to be the oldest surviving industrial building in New Zealand, while the town also holds Christ Church, the country's oldest surviving Anglican church. The surrounding area also contains many expensive holiday homes, as well as New Zealand's most expensive rental accommodation, the Eagles Nest. The internationally acclaimed photographer Laurence Aberhart lives here.

Whangarei is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. The Whangarei Art Museum is located in the Town Basin. There are also artisan markets held at the nearby Canopy Bridge. The Quarry Arts Centre is located on the edge of the Western Hills in the Avenues. Other attractions include the nearby Whangarei Falls, the National Clocks Museums, the memorial park, and others.

Taipa-Mangonui is one name given to a string of small resort settlements in the far north of New Zealand's North Auckland Peninsula, close to the base of the Aupouri Peninsula. The resorts of Taipa, Cable Bay, Coopers Beach, and Mangonui, all of which lie along the coast of Doubtless Bay, are so close together that they have run together to form one larger settlement.