Taking a breather at Coopers Beach

On Sunday the other half (who is an essential worker) and I drove briefly up to Coopers Beach which is about an hour north of us. Such an amazing beautiful coastline and with us going into Autumn right now the day was overcast but it was so good to get out to breath some ocean air. I spotted this father and son doing a spot of surf casting with their rods, it doesn't look like they caught anything as there was so much seaweed in the tide.

We stopped at the beach and I took photos of the scenery including this guy while the other half crossed the road and waited in line (with 2 metre social distancing of course) to order some fish and chips - while he bought some battered fresh fish I had some battered mussels.

Our large bird friend above is apparently a Black Backed Gull (Karoro) and was 3 times the size of the squawky seagulls.  They are known to be quite aggressive towards other birds because they apparently pick on some of the endangered species like Terns, Black Billed Gulls and the Banded Dotterils. They are not threatened at all, live for about 14 years and breed from mid October to late January - from Spring to mid Summer.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, My Corner of the World and Wordless Wednesday.

Fishing time at Scott's Landing

I first drove out here to Scott's Landing about 5 years ago and last week weekend we drove out there a good 45 minutes or so from home. Such a nice day and not much different from when I was previously here.

I happened to be reading their website and saw that a beach cleanup has been scheduled for early November. Definitely a good thing and something that should be done for every town on a regular basis - wishful thinking on my part maybe.

Anyway good news, I've been offered a permanent part-time job in another town about 20 minutes from here that I've decided to accept, start date is in 2 weeks time so looking forward to that.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Top of the Goldschmidt Track

Near the carpark at our surf beach we have a walk called the Goldschmidt track named after a local family who have organized many walking weekends in our town. I've done this a couple of times now, it's pretty easy and only takes about 30 minutes up and down.

About halfway up the sandy steps this was the view out over the carpark and the estuary. Lucky it was pretty quiet but come Summer this place will be packed with visitors.

This one I believe is dog friendly but there are quite a few that aren't due to some areas being kiwi breeding colonies or fairy tern egg nesting spots.

The way down was a bit more rocky than the way up I think due to alot of rain that we had then. Sadly about a week after I took these photos a group of people were seen on CCTV lighting fireworks on the hill which caught alight and caused a ton of damage. We had the local volunteer fire service there plus 8 other brigades from as far as Ruawai and Whangarei helping out. I'm not sure if they caught the culprits yet.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Early in the morning

I've been getting out most mornings to walk around town, sometimes I walk for about an hour and sometimes it's a bit less depending on what I see and find. Since the days are getting longer and the mornings are getting lighter I walked along our local estuary while the tide was out and saw this scene. Boats moored in the low tide, driftwood and logs stranded on the sand with blue skies above made me feel glad is Spring.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Signs of Autumn at Kawakawa

Autumn skies and scenery at Kawakawa Bay where the tide was out. This lovely place is about 45 minutes south of Auckland central on the coast just before Orere Point.

You know Summer is on its way out when my sinuses and hayfever allergies start playing up...right about now.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday.

Opua Wharf Ferry

First time I have ever travelled on the Opua Ferry in the weekend and it was a very quick trip too. Fullers which is a national NZ company own alot of ferry services just about everywhere. This one is a transport ferry so once we had parked our car and it had started on it's way we got out and enjoyed the fresh air. Our destination was to be taken to Okiato Wharf which is a small settlement just before Russell.

The other side of Opua has many yachts and boats moored with what looks like a private boat shed in the distance. There are also quite a few houses and baches along the side of the cliffs.

You could almost say that these boats moored alongside the wharf are mini super yachts. I've seen much bigger ones.

This one here is owned by Jemison Marine and is available for hire. It has air conditioning, a gym and wifi connection. It is 95.14ft and can accommodate 8 guests overnight . Posh aye?

Rangihoua Heritage Park

We got out for a visit out to Rangihoua Heritage Park this morning - this is a place the other half has been itching to see for a while.

From the top of the walk way this was the view we had of the Kerikeri Inlet Harbour - so beautiful on a sunny Spring day like today. From the top it was about a 30 minute walk to the coast and along the way we trekked along a slightly muddy 4 wheel drive track. 

Rangihoua Pā and Kainga (village) was the local town at the time of the mission settlement, home to many hundreds of people including Chief Ruatara, Māori leader and friend of Reverend Samuel Marsden. The people of Rangihoua Pā were the protectors of the settlement in its early days.

Today only a few terraces remain of the first European settlement established by the Church Missionary Society at Rangihoua Bay in 1814. In 1832, the settlement moved to more fertile land at Te Puna, a few kilometres to the west.

Lots of Kowhai trees around our area at the moment too - their name in Maori means "yellow".

The Park was established by the Marsden Cross Trust Board together with its partners Ngāti Torehina, the Rangihoua Native Reserve Board and the Department of Conservation. The prime objective is to inform and educate the people of New Zealand and visitors from abroad of the significance of Rangihoua and the events of 1814 and the years that followed.

Marsden Cross (above) marks where the Reverend Samuel Marsden preached his first sermon on Christmas Day 1814. That line of trees in the above photo is where the track started at the top and carried on along down the hill.

There are cultivation lines running down the slope that may be the gardens Marsden’s travelling companions referred to as “plantations of kumara, potatoes and other vegetables”. 

The terraces that you can see on this slope today are where the missionaries’ homes were and also the country’s first school house. 

So it was back towards the way we came but firstly through this short native bush walk. Next weekend another adventure...