Hitting the road this summer? Remember the journey is just as important as the destination. These pit stops are worth pulling over for, writes Peter Dragicevich.

Warkworth

These days the journey between Auckland and Whangārei or Dargaville takes less than 2½ hours and there’s many a Kiwi dad who will insist on motoring through. However if you’re looking for a pit stop, Warkworth is the pick of the bunch. If you’re coming from Auckland, it sits around the 45-minute mark and it’s the first decent contender for a coffee or a wee.

It’s also the turn-off for key holiday hotspots such as Matakana, Snells Beach, Mahurangi, Tāwharanui, Ōmaha, Leigh and Pākiri. In summer the town’s two oversized supermarkets do a brisk trade with holidaymakers stocking up on supplies for the bach.

Drive right into the centre of town and pull up near the very helpful i-Site at the beginning of Baxter St to find information about your intended destination. If you’re interested in heritage architecture, stop to have a squiz at the Corinthian columns and classical pediments of the elegant Masonic Hall next door that was built in 1883. The Mahurangi River is directly behind, so stretch your legs with a stroll along the pretty riverside promenade. If you’ve got kids in tow, there’s a playground there too.

Straddling a laneway opposite the i-Site, The Tahi Bar & Kitchen wouldn’t be out of place in inner-city Melbourne and yet it offers the most quintessentially Warkworth experience of all. All the craft beer is sourced from local producers (including Warkworth’s 8-Wired and Kaipara Flats’ Colab Brewery), as is most of the wine (Matakana being a neighbour) and much of the food cooked in the kitchen. The butcher across the road even makes sausages for them to Tahi’s recipe.

Try also the Gourmet Burger Co, Aldo’s, the Warkworth Hotel, and Pete & Mary’s Eatery.

The Warkworth Hotel dates from 1864. Photo / Warkworth Hotel

Matamata

Matamata sits on the quickest route between our first and fifth-biggest cities, Auckland and Tauranga. If you’re coming from Auckland, the town is around the 2 hour mark, with a further 45 minutes to the big smoke of the Bay of Plenty.

Magnificent mature trees still line the major thoroughfares, despite the felling of an impressive avenue of 70-year-old phoenix palms in late 2020. The 1km-long, 40m-wide strip of parkland known as Centennial Drive is a lovely place to get out of the car and stretch your legs under the shade of mature oaks, cedars, Japanese maples, American tulip trees, kauri, rimu, tōtara and miro.

On the food front, Matamata doesn’t disappoint. Although there are now quirky cafes serving barista-quality coffee and interesting food in small towns the length and breadth of the motu, this wasn’t always the case. Workmans Cafe & Bar – with its vintage radios adorning the walls and eclectic all-day menu – was a Waikato trailblazer in the 1990s and is still going strong.

We also rate The Redoubt Bar & Eatery for its family-friendly pub vibe and Tolkien-themed pizza. Other good options include Osteria, Smart India, Fez Kebab, 64 Coffee & Kitchen and Memento Espresso. Matamata even has a craft beer pub nowadays in the form of Good Merchant, serving the product of Hamilton’s Good George brewery.

Second breakfast sorted, there should still be time for the obligatory photos in front of the “Welcome to Hobbiton” sign and the cutesy Shire-styled i-Site information centre before you hit the road again.

Ōtorohanga

“New Zealand’s Kiwiana Town” lies at the heart of the King Country, on the main route between Taranaki and the big cities to the north. Tourism-wise, Ōtorohanga’s main claim to fame is as the gateway to the Waitomo Caves. But the town has its own bonafide tourist attraction too, being home to the first nocturnal Kiwi House.

Kiwiana is laid on with a spade along the covered Ed Hillary Walkway which connects the station to the main street. Here you’ll find display boxes on themes such as Kiwi slang, No. 8 wire and Ches ’n Dale.

Ō Cafe is our pick of the local eateries. Inside there are photos of old Ōtorohanga and a large sign telling three different stories associated with the town’s name, which is commonly translated as “food for a long journey”.

Turn on to Kakamutu Rd where you’ll come to an assemblage of heritage buildings which together form the free Ōtorohanga Museum: a 1912 courthouse, an 1896 police lock-up, St Bride’s Anglican Church from 1908, and a purpose-built pavilion containing a roughly 200-year-old tōtara waka discovered under gravel and sand in 2002.

Cut across the sports fields to the famous Ōtorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park for that classic Kiwiana experience of peering through the gloom for a glimpse of our most reticent icons. A highlight of the complex is the walk-through aviary featuring chattering kākāriki and fearless tuatara. But if you don’t have the time to justify the admission charge, you may get lucky and spot one in the enclosures lining the carpark.

Kiwiana icons on the lampposts of Ōtorohanga. Photo / Supplied

Tīrau

Sitting at the intersection of State Highways 1, 5 and 27, Tīrau is one of those towns you’re likely to pass through at some point, particularly if you’re heading between Auckland and Rotorua, Taupō or Hawke’s Bay.

Aside from its famous corrugated iron constructions, the next most striking thing about Tīrau is the sheer volume of gift, retro and craft shops. This town of barely 800 people even has its own mini-chain, with multiple branches of the terribly tasteful Notting Hill Interiors peppering the main shopping streets.

Some of our favourites include Outdoor Obsession, Saya Suka, Sheepskin Trader, Clock Shoppe, La More, Deciduus & Santie, outlet stores for Bendon and Trelise Cooper, Retro Collectables, Little Gem and the Kraft Kollective.

Otherwise, what’s not a gift shop is more than likely to be a place to eat. Our pick of the bunch is Tucker thanks to its thoroughly charming staff and very accommodating chefs. A few doors down, The Baker does a good line in steak-and-cheese pies, eclairs, muffins and takeaway coffee. Across the highway, the One Road Ice Cream Company is celebrating its seventh summer serving icecream made from real cream and sorbets made from real fruit, all of which is produced on the premises. Grab a seat under the golden elm out the front to lick it up before it melts.

Tīrau's John Drake is famous for this corrugated-iron sheep's head building, and many others. Photo / Supplied