Auckland, Takapuna, North Island,
New Zealand March 17-31, 2016
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!
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.
Historic Hotel in Davenport
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!
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
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.
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.
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 .
Straight across this bay is our home away from home...Mal and Leonie's flat.
More volcanic rock
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.
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.
 |
| 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!
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.
Not any surfers today....the waves were flat!
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?
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
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