Albany office to Mangawhai Heads private car — Maria's holiday

August can be a quiet month for intercity trips out of Auckland, people often recovering from the holidays or bracing for the end of the financial year. But there are always exceptions, and this one popped up in my calendar: a pick-up from an office building in Albany, North Shore, heading up to Mangawhai Heads. A straightforward run, but my passenger was travelling for pleasure, a holiday, and after a long stretch of business travel, that felt like a nice change.

The office building was one of those sleek, modern glass structures that seem to sprout up everywhere these days. I pulled up to the designated pick-up point, and Maria S. emerged, a small suitcase in hand and a bright, welcoming smile. She was dressed neatly, but informally, ready for a relaxing few days. She’d recently moved to Auckland from the Philippines and was keen to explore some of the North Island’s coastal beauty before the winter really set in. Mangawhai Heads, she’d heard, was particularly peaceful.

We set off heading north. The traffic through the northern motorways was predictably slow in places, usual for a Monday morning. Maria settled into the comfortable leather seat, looking out the window. She pointed out the hills, still lush green from the autumn rains, and spoke a little about her home in Manila, the sheer scale of it, the constant hum of activity.

As we cleared the city’s sprawl and the landscape opened up, with rolling farmland giving way to glimpses of the sea, she seemed to relax even more. She commented on the emptiness of the roads compared to what she was used to, the sheer amount of space. She’d been working long hours, she explained, and this trip was her much-needed decompression. Her family was still back in the Philippines, and while she spoke to them often, she admitted she missed the openness, the ability to just drive for an hour and find yourself somewhere completely new without being surrounded by buildings.

We stopped for a coffee and a stretch at a service centre just past Warkworth. The air was crisp, the kind you get in late winter, with that faint smell of damp earth and distant pine. While I got a quick pie, Maria bought a small pastry and sat watching the few other cars come and go. She was carrying a small, worn paperback book, but mostly she seemed content to just observe.

The final stretch up to Mangawhai Heads involved turning off the main highway onto narrower, winding roads. The houses became fewer, the vegetation thicker, coastal pohutukawa trees starting to appear, their branches gnarled and reaching. The sky was a soft grey, but it didn’t feel gloomy; more like a gentle lid on the world, enhancing the muted colours of the landscape.

When we arrived at her accommodation, a modest bach nestled amongst dunes, the ocean was just a short walk away. She thanked me warmly, her smile even brighter now that her destination was in sight. She mentioned how much she'd enjoyed the quiet journey, the chance to see the countryside unfold. She had plans to walk along the beach, read her book, and just soak in the solitude.

As I drove away, the engine a steady hum against the quiet afternoon, I thought about her journey. From the bustling streets of Manila to a peaceful coastal village in Northland. It’s a common thread, this search for quiet and space that brings people to places like Mangawhai. It’s humbling to be part of that transition, even for just a few hours on the road.