Auckland, North Island, New Zealand

Auckland, Takapuna, North Island, New Zealand   March 17-31, 2016

                                                        So long to Queenstown....

Grand flight from Queenstown to Auckland flying over the two glaciers on the South Island….Fox and Fran Josef.

                                                    What an amazing sight from the air!

 

                                      A cloudy, rainy, foggy landing on the North Island!

We jumped into our rental car and took off driving on the left side only this time it was oddles of traffic. Not going to be the same kind of laid back feeling  that we had in the South Island….3 .25 million  are living on the North Island and the South Island’s population is just at a million….a lot more cars are here.

We found our way through Auckland and over the bridge to Takapuna….I just love the different kinds of names in New Zealand.

Here we are staying in our dear NZ friends, Mal and Leonie's flat that we visited seven years ago.  Nice and cozy and just a block from the beach….now that is my kind of living.
 

It wasn’t long till we took off on a road trip to Muriwai Beach…west of Tapakuna on the Tasmin Sea. An inviting black sandy beach….because of the volcanoes.

 

                                     Ready for a walk on the beach!

 Surfers by the dozens were out catching waves. 

 

What a beach!

 

There is a tremendous tide here and with it way out, lot of mussels were exposed.

 We climbed over the rocks finding dozens of gorgeous, colorful star fish.

 

 

 

Just had to pick this up and touch it!

 

                                                                       Gorgeous!

 

              It was interesting to watch some Kiwis put their boat in the water from the beach!

                  We explored a cave on the beach that had carvings dating back to the 50's.

             We climbed up over these rocks to watch the people fishing on the other side.

Hard to believe, but the tide comes up over the cliffs (pictured above) leaving pools of water on top where  I am walking. WOW!

We spotted holes in these cliffs where the blue penguins nest.

 

People were fishing here off of these cliffs. 

 

We watched this guy catch his first fish....So proud...feel sure he is hooked for life!

Wedding photos were being shot out on the point....so romantic!

Amazingly, we spotted Gannets (huge sea birds) flying overhead and hiked to the tip top of the cliffs to see the colony that had grown from 50 pair to 1000 pair. Gannets mate for life with the same partner.  They lay only one egg a year.

 

Mothers and fathers were feeding the youth with regurgitated fish that they had freshly digested from the sea. What an interesting sight! This speckled teen age bird was wanting some nourishment ....pecking at the parent's beak persistently until it gave in to giving him some morsels.

                                                    

We spotted lots of fluffy newly hatched and teen aged speckled young ones.

                                         This teenager was trying hard to fly.

These birds will be gone the first of April...migrating to Australia for the winter. How lucky we were to be able to see them before they left!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a view the gannets have!

The cliffs give the birds the perfect wind for take off...out to the sea to get some lunch or dinner.

Larry and I had a picnic lunch with an Auckland family of five. They were full of funny tales and were full of suggestions that would take us off the tourist trails to see the real Kiwi North Island!

Our day was full of sunshine and lots of great memories at Muriwai Beach!
 

Another day we headed to Piha. On the way we passed one of the local Auckland Marinas....No wonder it is called City of Sails.

 

We never made it to Piha! HA! My map reading is not like our Garman back home…We missed the turn off for Route 22….which I claim was not marked and ended driving along Manukaui  Bay to Little Hula and Whatipu...oh well.

                                      Very Spectacular!  More of that azure colored water!
This led us around some very curvy roads past a couple of dams and up the mountain into a rain forest.

What a GREAT wrong turn! We enjoyed a little hiking and spotted some of the most unusual tree barks that I have ever seen.

 

 

 

 

 

Our world is full of so many wonders!

                                              Historic Hotel in Davenport

Another day we drove to the lovely quaint village of Davenport and hopped onto a ferry to Rangitoto Island, home of the largest and newest NZ island volcano….a modest 600 years old.   We have been looking at it on our morning walks on the beach….it is just across the Hauraki Gulf and one of the 50 dormant volcanos in the area.

I

                                              Great views of Auckland on the way to Rangitoto !

 

 

 

Anyway, we had a real treat riding on the boat….a large group of third graders boarded with us…. eating cookies and candy bars….you can imagine the  super charge that was going on at 9 AM in the morning. Oh, it was fun!

 

 

Once we got to the island we boarded a  tractor pulled wagon over the roughest volcanic roads. It took us all over the island, dropping us off at the foot of the volcano.

Our ride on the wagon was wonderful....after seeing lots of volcanic rock fields ,we were happy to be riding , not walking...this very rough terrain.

 

 

 

Volcanic rocks 

 

                                         The beginning of our hike to the summit

 

Nice hike up a lot of steps!

 

 

Up we hiked….356 steps and finally reached the top.  During our hike I finally spotted a Tui....a New Zealand bird that has the coolest sounding song. Our guide told me that they imitate  sounds describing how one made a cell phone sound fooling him just the day before.

       Straight across this bay is our home away from home...Mal and Leonie's flat.

More volcanic rock

 

 

At the top of the volcanic crater we had a spectacular view of Auckland! From here Larry and I decided to hike the rim. We can now claim fame to hiking a volcano in New Zealand as well as it’s rim. Woohooo!

While in New Zealand the citizens voted on whether to keep the original national flag
(with the British Union Jack symbol in the right corner and four stars) or a newly designed one (with the fern leaf and four stars)....below.

The majority voted to keep the original flag.

 

 

 

 

Many citizens thought that the original NZ flag looked too much like the Australian flag. The Aussie flag has five stars with a bigger one below the Union Jack.

 

We love walking the beach....just a  block from the flat.

          A view of Rangitoto Island from our hometown beach that we walk most days .

A couple of times we were lucky to walk when the tide was out, allowing us to walk through the volcanic rocks to the second beach that is further north.

 

During high tide you could not pass through here. 

 

 

One of the things that we found while walking this popular path...a giant chair made from the volcanic stones.

 

A sea pool....when the tide comes in, it gets filled with sea water...very, very popular

in Australia too.

We spotted several private funiculars....giving a homeowner an easy ride to their home on top of the bluffs.

 

Great walk on the beach!

I love walking this path....it's about an hour one way with fabulous views of the water and then we can double back through some pretty swanky homes.

It was more popular during Easter weekend....during the other times we had it all to ourselves. 

 

Larry loves swinging on the beach!

 

I enjoy the lounges that the town provides.

    

The hibiscus are absolutely lovely here!

 

 

Piha Beach

We made it to Piha Beach another day....googled the directions this time. It was another spectacular black sand beach with a lot of tremendously high waves. Lots of surfers...but they didn't seem to be actively taking on the waves....probably because they were huge.

This was probably the warmest day that we have had in NZ.

Gorgeous sunshine and fantastic scenery!

                                               The water was refreshing!

                                              Lots of volcanic rock in the sea.

                                    Just another GREAT day in New Zealand!

 

Easter Sunday we walked over to Lake Pupuke, a large fresh water lake close to the beach.

                 There was a lot of well fed water fowl enjoying the gorgeous day!

Black swans are typical in NZ....we saw them often on the  South Island as well.

 

How did the Canadian geese get this far away from their home?

We moseyed over to the beach to find the tide was way in leaving only a small beach front to walk.

  

 The boat launch was super busy on Easter Sunday.

          This restaurant was dog friendly, providing water dishes for all sizes.

                               Who needs a break from our three hour hike?

 

    We love this beach for its big shade trees that are found all along the banks.

              A great day for shell hunting with massive piles dotting the beachfront.

Not any surfers today....the waves were flat!

 Swimmers, paddle boarders, jet skiers, and  a team of rowers....dotted the waters.

The warm sun and the nice breeze made me want to just pull up a chair and soak it all up....but it was lunch time so we hiked back to the flat.

 

My Man...driving on right side of the car on the left side of the road.....WEEEEE!

 

We took a road trip on Easter Monday to Whangarei to see Mal and Leonie, our New Zealand friends from seven years ago. The last time that we saw them was in July when they came for a visit to Clearwater Beach. Unfortunately, our visit was in the Whangarei Hospital. Leonie was there recuperating from a stroke that she had had eight weeks earlier. She looked GREAT and was  planning to return home on Thursday. Everyone was very proud of the progress that she had made.

 

                                                       Tutukaka Beach

 

                                        Well manicured rolling hills.

 

 

After our visit we took the Tutukaka Loop going through Ngunguru and Matapouri taking in beautiful  green rolling hills, curvy roads, and ocean views....more awesome NZ scenery.

 

 

We spent the night in a hotel and headed out the next morning  for Waipu passing through the Waipu Cove,

 

Lots and lots of Surfers....The waves were numerous and so gentle here that Larry  wanted to take a try at it....if only he had a board.

                                                           Langs Beach.....

 

     Larry has a new item on his birthday list.....a boat that you can drive to the beach! Yes, you drive it down the beach road right into the water. What new boy toy are they going to think of next?

 

                                                         and  Mangawhai Heads......

                                                        Such a gorgeous beach!

         What MAGNIFICENT views of Taranga Island and the South Pacific Ocean. 



 

                       New Zealand is a fantastic country. We enjoyed the Kiwis on North Island as well as the South. They are  friendly mates. Larry knows how much I love the beach and he took me to so many on the North Island that I couldn't pick a favorite. They all were awesome!

 

         Farwell to New Zealand...tomorrow we will be arriving in Tasmania, Australia