Rawhiti Peninsula

Today we headed back along the Russell Road to the Rawhiti peninsula, a very sleepy backwater, and a partially sealed road so not much traffic. Kaingahoa Bay is home to a small Maori community with a campsite situated on their marae overlooking the water.






At Rawhiti there is a boat ramp and a shop selling bait! Not much else there other than a lovely view out over the islands.






On the way back we stopped to climb a hill looking down over Oke Bay. A very peaceful area, and some good walking options here including a full day walk to Cape Brett from where you can see the famous Hole in the Rock that all the commercial boat trips head out to from Russell and Paihia.

Okiato & Orongo Bay

Before heading to the bach we had booked, we headed towards Okiato stopping off at Omata Winery on the way. A small boutique winery with a great view and great wine, so we purchased some to accompany dinner!

The only reason to go to Okiato is to catch the car ferry, which we will do on our return journey, which crosses over to Opua, in the distance.

The bach we had booked was overlooking Orongo Bay, famous for its many oyster beds. A great view from the deck outside.

We obviously couldn't resist trying the local delicacy - don't think you can get oysters much fresher than this! Picked and shucked that day and we enjoyed them with a glass of fizz overlooking the oyster beds.

Tony the cat, belonging to the owners of the bach who live next door, befriended me...

And then after a pretty full on day, we spent the evening watching a lovely sunset.

Russell

Our accommodation was a little out of Russell in Orongo Bay, but we headed into the town to explore a little. First stop was a fish and chips lunch sat outside the old police station looking out over the harbour.

On our journey here, we had passed many classic cars on a rally, and we found them all gathered in the school grounds, including this fantastic 1911 Rolls Royce.

One of the enthusiasts was painting a couple of the Model T Fords.

The church is the oldest in NZ, complete with bullet holes in the weatherboards.

We then headed up Flagstaff Hill for some great views, this is looking over the water to the Waitangi grounds and flagpole.

And the view down to Russell itself, and the wharf, where all the day trippers and tourists from Paihia come across for the day.

To the back of town is Long Beach, a great beach that you would never know was there!

At the far point of the Russell Peninsula is Tapeka Point, another popular beach for boaties and waterskiers.

The Drive to Russell

For the long Auckland Anniversary weekend we headed north to Russell and took the opportunity to explore the less commercial aspects of the beautiful Bay of Islands. We therefore decided to take the back road, rather than the main highway and car ferry to our destination. First stop off point was Helena Bay, a very small township of about 10 houses/baches!




Oakura, our next stop, is the largest town on this coast, so a bit more activity but still very quiet on the beach. A possible destination for a future holiday as we really liked the feel of the place.





Not much in Whangaruru apart from a boat ramp leading to Whangaruru Harbour, but a very sheltered and peaceful bay.





We then headed down the peninsula to Bland Bay, didn't live up to its name though as a lovely spot with a campsite right on the beach. We continued into Whangaruru North Head Scenic Reserve to get this great view back down the hill - Bland Bay on the right and the Whangaruru Harbour on the left.






We also had the view of this great rock formation, including a hole in a rock at Home Point.







This roadside view is the rugged coastline of Taupiri Bay.









And then down to Taupiri beach.

Visiting Anna & Tim

This weekend we have been down to Taupo to see Anna & Tim and to pick up our pig, now in several plastic bags...we will be eating pork for a long time! Holly made us very welcome as she realised there were 2 extra people to play with and show off to.

We had a good wander around their paddocks - it's amazing how much this paddock has changed over the 2 years they have been there, once a pine forest, now nearly all cleared.




The speedy clearance was mainly down to Tim buying a 1950s bulldozer! Here he is explaining to Royston the finer points of how it works - Royston was later to try it out in the pouring rain!

Now that Rashun is no more, their main animal focus is goats, plus a few sheep and lambs. They now have over 20 goats and kids - most of the kids are very friendly and coming running over as soon as they see you.

Royston was very tempted to try and squeeze one of them into the car! We had to make do with a pack of diced goat meat for a curry instead...

Big Day Out

Today we joined 45,000 people at the annual Big Day Out. There were so many bands on we had to schedule our day, so our first band was Eskimo Joe, an Aussie band that we have liked for many years but never had the opportunity to see. They were on one of the side stages so a relatively small crowd.




We then made our way to the main stages - the event is held at Mt Smart where the rugby league is played, and the main stages were within the stadium. An upcoming Kiwi band Midnight Youth were finishing their set so we got to hear all their big hits.



The stages are side by side, so when one band finishes on one stage, the next one starts. There were a few bands from the UK performing including Kasabian who trotted out all their big hits.





Then one of the reasons we actually went today, and that was to see Powderfinger again. Although huge in Oz they don't have a big following here so we were able to get very close to the stage.





They announced that they would be coming back later this year for a tour so another concert to look forward to!






The biggest crowd of the day so far was to see UK rapper Dizzee Rascal, not our cup of tea so we wandered off to see some of the smaller bands on the side stages.





After sitting through some rather dire acts, the highlight of the night, and another main reason for going, was to see Muse. Their show dazzled as always, including this amazing laser show. We decided to sit away from the stage for an easy get away at the end so couldn't get any decent photos unfortunately. Overall a great day out.

Milford - Takapuna Walk

Despite having worked in Takapuna for the past 3 years, I have never done the walk between Takapuna and Milford, so today we decided to make the most of the sunshine and do the walk. Takapuna to Milford was along the road known as the "Golden Mile", so called because of the high value real estate. The trip back to Takapuna follows the coast line and can only be done at low tide. Here there is the most amazing black lava rock which forms a large area of the beach.


Black rock was formed about 100,000 years ago when Lake Pupuke, on the other side of the "Golden Mile" to the beach, erupted.





We continued the walk around the coast, scrambling over the rocks and admiring the multi million dollar properties that line the beach, and finishing off at Takapuna beach.

Atiu Creek Regional Park

Atiu Creek is the newest Regional Park having been donated to the Auckland Regional Council and opened about 18 months ago and has been on our list to do for a while. The park overlooks the Oruawharo River which flows into the Kaipara Harbour on the west coast north of Auckland. When we arrived we were the only car in the car park which has the first stunning view of the day.



The reason for our visit today was to do a good walk, so we set off on our 10km trek marvelling in the views all the way. There are many peninsulas and inlets around the Kaipara, this is looking over to Puketotare peninsula taken from the Heretoka Pa site.



Half way around the walk was an old Maori site, Solomon's Pa.







There are several Maori carvings around the park, this one is Oweka Tapu Pou and overlooking the mangroves of Solomon's Bay.





We then took a slight detour off to Ti Tree Point where I found Royston is a natural sheep herder, who needs a sheep dog...






Along the Point are great views back down to Solomon's Bay - no beaches here though to stop off at.






At the end of the Point is the Regional Park opening plaque. A great regional park for walking, we will return to do a slightly shorter walk (and hopefully less strenuous!) which goes to the reservoir, the water source for the park.