Beach Hop South- Kairakau, HB; Part 2

Continuing on from Part 1

I was up before the sparrows the next morning, 5:10am to be exact, to catch a spectacular east coast sunrise.

Three Bears provided the perfect foreground silhouette as the sun slowly crept towards the horizon. The half hour or so before the sun comes over the horizon are always the best for photography, known as the blue hour the sky turns a deep blue hue as twilight approaches and then moves into saturated golden colours that I've captured here.

Once the  sun pokes it's head above the horizon, the colour drains and then it's best to just sit and watch as a spectacular golden orb climbs into the sky.

Of course after a beautiful golden sunrise comes a stunning blue-sky day. 

There is a bit of history with Kairakau Beach; a long time ago, before all the houses and baches that are there now were built, Kairakau was just a sheltered accessible beach, a place local families, and families working on the nearby farm stations, came to picnic, relax and fish. Someone built a hut, then someone built another, then they added to their 'huts' and made them livable and over the years the collection of ramshackle huts and baches grew and grew. 

They were built cheek by jowl right along the edge of the beach where we are now camping. Baches were handed down from generation to generation, many families spent their summer holidays enjoying a typical kiwi beach holiday.

But eventually the District Council stepped in and said 'Stop, no more, and you don't pay rates and you have no permits, remove those huts now!'. The bach owners kicked up a stink (I mean to say, we've been here for 70 plus years enjoying our little piece of paradise and you now want us to go?) Eventually they worked out a deal with the council where they were given another 10 years before they had to be go. They were savvy negotiators; another 10 years rate free.  And so by the end of the 1980s all the baches were remove and this end of the beach returned to it's 'natural' state. I'm sure some of the stairways down to the beach along this stretch are left over from those days.

The aunty of our friendly local resident Graham, had one of those baches and it was built right about where we were parked. Graham also told us about Waterfall Bay, a small bay just around the northern point of the beach and only accessible at low tide. There were huts built in there too which were also removed. 

We went for a walk  to Waterfall Bay at the next low tide. We hadn't gone far when David spotted a baby crayfish minus one feeler, stranded on the tide line and right in the middle of the beach. We couldn't believe our eyes and it was still alive even though the sun had been beating down on it for quite some time. 

David tells me there was a brief moment when he weighed up whether it might be worth having a small crayfish hors d'oeuvre before dinner but decided better of it, and after making sure it was capable of flapping about in the shallow water, tossed it out into the deep where I'm sure it made a hasty retreat.

We wondered why the nearby seagulls hadn't been making a meal of the cray- they were munching on their own hors d'oeuvre, a conger eel. 

The cliff formations that form a dramatic backdrop to Kairakau Beach are known by the locals as the Twelve Apostles. I counted them numerous times and ended up with every number but - 8, 9, 13, 15- depending on which points I included or left out. David's scanning for birds, we were hoping there might be a falcon up there somewhere, all we got were hawks & shags. 

We're heading to Waterfall Bay which is in that gap ahead of us just before the first prominent headland, the tide is out far enough for us to get around the rocks ahead.

We'd followed another couple up the beach, they had what looked like a couple of dogs but it turned out to be four boisterous and energetic English Setters.

They raced round and round, tearing past us numerous times nearly bowling us over as they raced between the gaps in the rocks that we were passing through. Up and back down the beach for hundreds of meters, and up into the rocks and clay cliffs above us, chasing each other and hunting for rabbits and pheasants. The owner had to climb up to forcibly remove two that were pointing on a cliff above us at one stage. They wouldn't budge until he flushed a hen pheasant out of the grass ahead of them.

The dogs followed us up the track from the beach, bounding and bouncing through the long grass and leaping off the edge down into the stream at the bottom of the bank and up the other side. Their owners stayed down on the beach.

The waterfall wasn't too impressive although it had a small cool pool at it's base. This little cove has been handed back to the community and has been planted out with lots of native trees and flaxes. 

The community has also planted out a lovely area behind today's baches and holiday homes to encourage birds.

The farm station behind has stopped grazing the steep land in front of the cliffs and eventually this too will return to native bush as well.

Down at the estuary end of the beach, it's a bit more rugged with piles of seaweed and driftwood

The couple in the bus are regulars at Kairakau and mostly take up the option of parking in the campground to receive the late afternoon winter sun.

Now this is a gorgeous bach I could own, it has a lovely view across the estuary and beach to the south end. The iron maiden for camping donations is on the corner of their lawn to the left of the bach. At first I thought it was a CAP and you could park on their lawn for a donation, and in fact Kevin said a few have done so. He says they need to shift the iron maiden.

It looks like Kairakau has a very active marine club and a few members who need things spelled out in black and white. I laughed out loud when I read rule number 10! 

And lifeguard duties are taken care of...

Graham had invited us around for a cup of tea before we left and to meet his wife who does mosaics, one of my past hobbies. We'd mentioned it to him, as right around the village were lots of lovely little mosiac plaques pointing the way to the toilets and other areas. There was even a hopscotch pad on the reserve above the beach. Of course we didn't know it was going to be Graham's wife who had done them.

Well, what a surprise awaited us! Barbara certainly does mosiacs alright. 

Hidden amongst a row of beach baches with gardens full of seaside vegetation, boats, tractors, flotsam and jetsam is this amazing oasis of calm and colour.

Self-taught, Barbara is certainly a talented lady.

We said goodbye to Graham & Barbara (who was a little shy) and thanked them for their hospitality, and especially Graham's local history lesson. 

On our last night, the sun disappeared and the clouds rolled in. David sat out by the stairway with his drink and a good view up and down the beach...

...and of me doing a few long exposure shots of the surf and islands below. 

Yes, Kairakau would certainly be a beach I'd return to.

Beach Hop South- Kairakau, HB; Part 1

Real-time: and once again I find I have too many photos to share so this'll be a two parter on our first beach stop. 

We had one important stop before we pulled out of Napier, a visit to the dump station to empty our tanks. This dump station on Marine Parade must have one of the best outlooks in New Zealand; down the Parade and out over Hawke Bay. It's a typical sunny & hot Hawkes Bay day and we're hoping it'll follow us down the coast.

We head south, through Clive, skirt around Havelock and off down Middle Road. It's not long before I shout 'Stop!' (that familiar cry when we're on another little adventure), as I spy a cute church at the back of a paddock down by the Tukituki River. This is on the property of Camp David, a Christian Outdoor Education Centre and the church has been moved there, but I have no idea where from.

Once past the lifestyle blocks, Middle Road narrows and then twists and turns through rolling green Hawkes Bay farmland; the paddocks full of cute spring lambs. No dairy conversions out here.

We take a left turn at the end of the road and head down a hill to see a country hotel ahead of us and three pairs of eyes watching as we approach.

This is the Patangata Tavern and it's a busy country pub as it turns out, it's very popular with weekend day-trippers, bikers and bus tours and there are a group of seniors from Hastings having lunch today. We pull over for a break (and so I can take photos) and before we know it we're surrounded by three friendly chaps asking about the 5th-wheeler and our lifestyle.

By all accounts, the Patangata Pub was also a very popular hotel many, many years ago too. Two of my uncles worked on Kapiti Farm Station out near the beach we're heading to and this was their weekend 'local'- even though it was 23kms away. 

It was also the pub that my parents visited when they were 'courting', Dad driving his Model A truck out from Hastings to the farm to see the family and then, when the Model A became unreliable, bringing his soon-to-be-bride out in his 1940 Ford Prefect. 

There's a 'family story' of Mum driving off in Dad's car while he and his mate were relieving themselves on the side of the Patangata Road. She then wound the window up on his friend's head when he jumped on the running board to reach in and turn the key off. She laughed so much she forgot to put the handbrake on and the car ran off the road and into a culvert. They had to wait half an hour for another vehicle to come by and rescue them. And he still married her! 

This will not be the first unusual 'courtesy car' we're going to see on our beach hop.

The South Island isn't the only one with long single lane bridges either- here's the Patangata Bridge over the Tukituki River. Although most of it crosses over a bare dirt paddock which is obviously a flood plain on those rare occasions when the Tuki floods.

Further on and we take a slight detour when I see another church across a paddock. We pull up outside the Elsthorpe Hall and for the second time that day we're approached by a small group of men keen to look at the van. They've volunteer firemen and have been out on a call, they couldn't locate the fire and have just returned the fire truck to it's garage. I leave them yarning to David while... 

...I shoot next door to, well, shoot Elsthorpe's St Stephens Anglican Church...

...and a whole bunch of spring daffodils in the garden across the road. 

We carry on and it's not long before we reach our destination and the first beach we're visiting on our way south; Kairakau Beach.

We drive through the settlement to the north end of the beach where there's a lovely grassed area available for CSC (certified self-contained) vehicles to stay. This is Central HB District Council land that's looked after by the Kairakau Residents Association and a donation is asked for if you stay. The only problem is the iron maiden is right back at the beginning of the beach road and is often missed by visitors. 

We can't believe our luck at how fabulous the site is, right on the beach and no one else around! There are signs asking that you park at right angles to the beach which is fair enough in the summer when it would be busy, but I'm sure we'll be fine parked parallel so we can take in the view while sitting in our slide-out.

The only problem we see is, like Ward Beach, in Marlborough, the beach is backed by a row of very tall cliffs and very soon the sun will disappear behind them. Never mind, the wind is chilly and we'll be inside by late afternoon anyway.

It's not long before we hear a quad bike approaching and we have the pleasure of meeting another very friendly chap (who said South Islanders were the friendly bunch, Hawkes Bay is doing pretty darn well today). Graham introduces himself as one of only seven permanent residents and invites us to move down to the campground if we're wanting the late afternoon sun- it's on the corner of the estuary and beach by the buildings in the photo below. The beach campground (also run by the residents association) doesn't open until the end of the month but we're quite welcome to shift down there if we'd like. 

We decide to stay put, we like overlooking the beach and we've also just about finished setting up and about to unhitch. But it was lovely to have been offered the choice. Graham stays for a cup of tea and we sit outside having a chat while he fills us in on a lot of the history around Kairakau.

There's a prominent feature just off the beach at Kairakau; four rocks that provide a degree of shelter to the open beach. Graham tells us they have names, probably given to them by locals a long time ago; from left to right- Three Bears, Racing Car, Punch & Judy, and Long Rock (which is out of picture, to the right here). I can see the slight resemblance to the first two but Punch & Judy? Not so much. Graham says that's because Punch fell off! 

And there's Long Rock out the back.

I climbed up the hill behind- not to the top which would have killed me- just enough to get a birdseye view of  'Out There' and the beach. And look at that, the complete beach and virtually the whole settlement to ourselves. It never fails to amaze us at how often we find we're staying in stunning locations and have the place totally to ourselves. 

As the sun sets later in the day we decide that Kairakau Beach is a good first stop to get us back in the mode of travelling and exploring. And we once again decide that we really do live in an amazing country.

To be continued....Kairakau Beach; Part 2