Wenderholm Regional Park

Today we headed to Wenderholm to spend the day with Paul, Georgina, Lauren and Mollie for a some time on the beach and a chance for the men to go fishing. Here are Royston and Paul identifying the best fishing spot.





We had a sausage sizzle before the fishing began






And then the men went off fishing, unfortunately coming home empty handed...

South End of the Waitakeres

Easter Sunday and another great day, so today we headed back to the Waitakeres, this time the southern end which we hadn't previously explored. We first stopped off at Cornwallis where we climbed up the steep hill for views over the Manukau Harbour. This is a view down to Cornwallis beach.



Whilst this is a view over to the Awhitu peninsula, very close to where we went camping the previous weekend.





And finally a view to the entrance of the Manukau Harbour with North Head to the left and Whatipu on the right.



We continued along the road to Huia and Little Huia, both very small townships. This is a view down to Huia.






The road becomes unsealed and very windy, finally ending up at Whatipu and the entrance to the Manukau Harbour. This is a traditional west coast beach so fine black sand and wild waves. This is also a very popular spot for surfcasting, but we didn't try our luck this time.



This is a view past Ninepin Rock over to North Head on the other side of the harbour.






Our lunch was had at Armour Bay, an extravagant spread of crayfish, smoked salmon and a glass of fizz!

Charlie's New Toy

A trip to the pet shop for some cat food ended up with a free gift of a three way cat tunnel with ball hanging inside. Already a big hit with Charlie...

Easter Saturday on the Pohutukawa Coast

A glorious day today so we headed south east of Auckland to an area known as the Pohutukawa Coast, once a weekend bach kind of place, but now desirable suburbs of Auckland to live. Our first stop was Maraetai with its sandy beaches and lots of people out fishing.



We then headed to Omana Regional Park, another of Auckland's many regional parks with the picture frame!





Here we did the perimeter walk, culminating in a climb up to the lookout point which gave great views over the Hauraki Gulf and to Rangitoto.





Our final stop of the day was Beachlands with its wharf and sandy beach.

Tom and Jerry...

Now he has reached his first birthday, Charlie has decided to prove he is an adult cat by catching his first mouse. We released it back into the bush over the fence as he didn't really know what to do with it...

Clarks Beach

As the weather was good this weekend, we headed off camping to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This time we went about an hour south of us to Clarks Beach on the Manukau harbour. From our tent site we could see through the cabins to the estuary.




The view from the beach is over to the Awhitu peninsula which goes to Manukau Heads and the entrance to the Manukau harbour - an area to explore in the future.





The town had a very sleepy feel to it as out of summer season, but we found an excellent winery and a good restaurant just down the road from the campsite.




The end of the day resulted in a beautiful sunset which we watched from the beach.

Bluff Oyster Season

March is the start of the Bluff oyster season - considered the finest in the world. We splashed on a dozen to be washed down by a glass or two of fizzy.






They certainly lived up to expectation!