Perfect Puriri Bay- Part 1

Catch-up

We said goodbye to our Whangarei family and carried on north, taking the Old Russell Road which winds and weaves it's way up and over high hills along the coast. The road is also mostly gravel. We're heading to a DOC camp on the north side of the Whangaruru Harbour.

After 40kms or so we take a side road that weaves down the length of the Whangaruru Peninsula, past some local real estate.....

....past popular Bland Bay on the ocean side...

...and then over a couple more hills where from a vantage point looking back, both sides of the peninsula can be seen.

Tuparehuia Bay on the left, Bland Bay on the right

Towards the end of the road we squeeze through a gate and across a cattlestop into the DOC reserve. Then it's along a narrow section of the road hoping we'll not meet anyone coming the other way, around a corner and there below us is our destination, Puriri Bay...

...the perfect campsite and a beautiful sheltered bay on the edge of the water. And what do you know, there are our friends, Jocelyn & Murray in their 5th-wheeler. We had briefly caught up with them at Uretiti DOC Camp so it was great to be able to spend some more time with them.

David inflated the Takacat dinghy and went fishing...

..with limited success for the first few days. He's been so used to lake fishing these past few years it took him awhile to get back into the swing. But that wasn't a problem because Murray is a (very) keen fisherman and is well known for regularly feeding the entire camp. He'd head out in his kayak early in the morning, usually as I was waiting for sunrise and on this morning, moon set at the same time...

...and he'd be home a couple of hours later with a full house.

Later in the day we might have a 'cook off', we decided both Murray & I make a mean Kokoda (raw fish salad) and Jocelyn makes excellent fish cakes. David just enjoyed the sampling! 

Within a few days, David got the hang of sea fishing again and started bringing home the bacon....I mean snapper...

A sign and a flimsy rope at the far end of the bay alerted us to the fact that there was one very large wasp nest hanging from an old pohutukawa tree on the foreshore. I gingerly crept up as far as I dared to take some photos before pest control arrived to take care of it.

Centre below the large epiphyte 

Thank God for long lens (click on the photo to enlarge)

A few days later pest control arrived covered from head to toe in bee suits and stuffed a thin pipe up into the nest over and over again. Afterwards a large cloud of powder hung around the nest and angry wasps swarmed about.

A couple of days later, with a little bit of trepidation, I approached the nest and was frightened out of my wits when hidden behind the tree trunk, three ducks lifted off from underneath quacking in alarm. They had been feasting on the dead wasps that had dropped out of the nest, how they handled the poison I'm not so sure. In this photo you can see some of the numerous entry points to the nest on the left.

Much of the outer shell had fallen to the ground exposing the many layers and cells of the nest. Isn't nature truly amazing, what a shame wasps are such a terrible pest. 

With the Labour holiday weekend approaching we were expecting quite a number of extra people arriving but we were pleasantly surprised at the lack of campers, most had a front row site and then there still a few gaps. The weather was one out of the box too; perhaps it was just a little bit too far to come for a long weekend.

During our time there, there were some amazing sunsets across the harbour...

This one had some strange black lines through the cloud

And then there were the sunrises including this unusual one.

To be continued... Part 2

An Open Sanctuary- Part 1; Shakespear Park

Real Time

To try and keep up to date, I'm going to do a few more short posts rather than wait until I have a stack of photos to process and then have to spend a couple of days writing up a long post. We'll see, but you know how it is, it's very hard to change a habit of a lifetime (well 6 years of blog writing anyway).

From Ardmore we carried on heading north towards our next destination...

...timing the drive through Auckland just right as there wasn't too much traffic on the motorways. It's been five years since we last saw the Sky Tower loom up ahead of us. 

Once across the Harbour Bridge and through the northern suburbs we headed out along the Whangaparaoa Peninsula where the locals have this flash (fairly new) control system to ease congestion during rush hour traffic. The middle lane changes direction depending on the traffic flow. Outside rush hour it becomes, as the sign says, a flush median. 

You might wonder why this was of interest to me; we used to have this over the causeway on Chapel Street in Tauranga for a number of years (before the expressway was built). We didn't have flash lights and signs though; ours were just road cones that were moved from one lane to the other during rush hour- it fixed the problem though! 

Twenty kilometres later we arrived at the tip of the peninsula; our next camp is through that pest proof fence. The automatic gates open as we approach; of course we have checked we have no stowaways onboard- you know us and our mouse traps; they are permanently set in the rig.

This is the stunning Shakespear Open Sanctuary, a 500ha Auckland Regional Park that was once a large farm at the end of the peninsula.

This is a ideal site for a sanctuary, a relatively short 1.7km predator proof fence runs across the narrow isthmus between Army Bay on the north side and Okoromai Bay on the south side while water borders the remaining three sides of the sanctuary. You can see the fence snaking down through the gully here on it's way to Okoromai Bay. Gulf Harbour houses overlook the bay.

Mr WH Shakespear purchased the farm in 1883 and built the family homestead overlooking Te Haruhi Bay in 1910, it's now a YMCA Lodge. The farm was purchased from the Shakespear family by the Auckland Regional Authority in 1967. The end of the peninsula was also an important defense site during WWII and the army acquired (and still has) 130ha at the northeastern tip which is fenced off.

The farm woolshed used to sit right in the middle and to the front of Te Haruhi Bay; obviously for ease of shipping sheep and wool from the farm.

The historic woolshed has now been shifted back from the water and sited below the homestead, you can see it mid right in this photo (click to enlarge), the homestead is higher up to the left. Our camping area is on the right side of the road above the cars you can see, You can just see the end of a caravan below one of the trees.

The Auckland Council run a website booking system for all of their 26 regional parks; bookings for camp sites and camping grounds, for accommodation in houses & baches within the parks, for functions inside buildings (such as the woolshed) and outside for picnics & parties at the numerous BBQs that are dotted around the park.

It's quite a long-winded and often confusing website to use but once you get the hang of it, it does work. It just takes a bit of time to organise things, and to get your bearings if you're unfamiliar with the parks and their layout.

We initially wanted to book at the campground (basic) in the park where you can stay for 7 nights, but it was closed because of the ground conditions. This only left us with the CSC (certified self-contained) camping area, which was fine except that there was a maximum of 3 nights only.

Once the booking is confirmed ($15pp per night here) the combination number to the gate into the camping area is sent via email- so you do need to be organised before hand if you're wanting to stay (or risk sitting outside a gate for a couple of hours waiting for confirmations and emails).

There are 4 hard stand areas to park on the side of the drive in the CSC area or you can park on the grass if the ground allows it. We had the place to ourselves the first night and then 2-3 vans for the next two nights. In the end I decided that I liked this area probably better than the other camp which was at the end of the bay.

It wasn't too far to walk across the grass, pass under the large pohutukawa trees lining the sand dunes, to reach the beach.

Where another world can be seen far across the water...

Sky Tower & Auckland CBD

... and Rangitoto Island in another direction. 

The bird life throughout the park is amazing....but more on that in the next blog.

To be continued....

A Golden Day in Golden Bay

Real-time

I still have another 2-3 blogs from our time at Pakawau to do but I thought I'd post this one now to let you know it'll be my last blog for a week or so- we're moving tomorrow to an area that has limited internet so it'll be a good opportunity for me to take a wee break.....providing the weather stays warm and sunny like it has done for the last two days.

We've been parked at the NZMCA Park at Port Tarakohe in Pohara, near Takaka, for the last two days. There was a POP here the last time we passed through, although we actually stayed at the Top10 Holiday Park back along the road. The park is overlooked by old Port Golden Bay cement silos from the long abandoned cement works. 

It's a great site overlooking the harbour and Golden Bay beyond. The only problem is it's very boggy underfoot because of all the rain we've had lately. There's a patch of gravel in the centre and that's where most of the arriving vans have been parking up. Not us! We don't mind a bit of mud (and a bit of space).

I said the only problem was the boggy ground but actually that isn't quite right. There's a short-term problem on the wharf opposite; trucks are arriving on a regular basis loaded to the gunwales with huge rocks which are then dumped in a pile on the wharf- they must be for a seawall somewhere. There's a massive crash and a huge thump as they up-end the trailers which gives you a hell of a fright when you're not expecting it. And then the bulldozer moves in; scraping, pushing and tumbling them into a row. 

The best bit is that they start at 6am and don't finish until 6pm! Though I can report that after a few hours of rumbles you suddenly don't hear them anymore....until they startle you awake again the next morning. It actually doesn't worry us too much, we've got used to so many different sounds while we've been on the road, nothing fazes us now. But I bet those on limited holiday time have silently cursed them.

ETA- a local FB friend has told me that the rocks are actually being barged across the Strait to Wellington and are for use on the new Transmission Gully motorway; a 2+ year project so the noise is going to around for awhile yet!

I walked to end of the breakwater last night to catch the sunset but it had been such a brilliant blue sky day that there was nothing to write home about. I'm not complaining though, it was so nice to see the sun, and to have a bit of heat in the day. And such a peaceful way to end the day.

I checked out the Little Blue Penguin nesting boxes hidden in amongst the rocks along the way; I wasn't wanting to disturb them by scrambling about the boulders. I didn't need to. I could smell the ones that were occupied. Poo what a pong!

Since I was already awake, courtesy of the rock dumping this morning, I walked back to the end of the breakwater again to see if the sunrise was any better and to watch the fishing boats leave for the day. This one's from the mussel farm just out in the bay.

Sunrise was nothing spectacular either but it was going to be another stunning day. I waited awhile watching the sky lighten as the sun rose, hidden behind the rocky outcrop at the back of the harbour. 

And then this afternoon I took a little tiki-tour up the road, I've taken photos along this stretch of coastline during our last visit but I'm always keen to revisit places and see them in different lights and seasons. This is Tata Beach- the last time I visited here it was well before dawn, I'd come to see the Spitting Shags.

Tata Beach from the top of the road with the Port Tarakohe breakwaters in the background.

And just over the hill from Tata is beautiful Wainui Bay and the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park.  Can you see the two people exploring the sandflats. 

I headed back to camp stopping to take a photo of the 'hole in the rock' near the the harbour. And look who's taking centre stage, our happy little home 'Out There'. As a matter of interest, tomorrow, October 4th, marks our 4th year on the road, we've certainly found ourselves parked in some very interesting places. Here's the blog from that day- Shell Shocked.

And that's it for a few days, here's hoping for some good weather! See you soon.

Mickey Mouse in Porpoise Bay, Catlins

Catch-up, we've been parked up at our personal POP in Winton once again, a bonus two week visit with the family while we waited for the weather to settle.  It's been far from ideal and I think we have had just a couple of sunny and warm days in the last 4 weeks. The wind has been relentless and the rain constant. Summer sure has taken a break in the deep South, but I hear it's been similar elsewhere in the country too. 

We left Winton this morning heading for the interior; this may be the last blog for awhile as I'm not sure if we'll have reception where we're bound. Tonight, we're parked up at the Lumsden NZMCA Park, one of our regular staging posts. And guess what? It's raining again, cats and dogs too.

Now, back to the Catlins.

Porpoise Bay is a surf beach, a beautiful sweeping crescent of golden sand that's not quite as famous as its close neighbour Curio Bay, on the other side of the headland, but well known all the same. As the name suggests, Porpoise Bay is the home of some very cute dolphins. Very cute, extra tiny and highly endangered, Hector's Dolphins, the only endemic dolphin found in NZ. 

A family group of Hector's live and feed in the bay and it's more than likely you'll see them if you spend a little time scanning the waters, especially in the early morning and late afternoon when they tend to move close into shore. The most noticeable feature of the Hectors is their dark round dorsal fin which looks like a Mickey Mouse ear.

Porpoise Bay is a safe swimming and surf beach and the dolphins are quite accustomed to sharing their space with swimmers and surfers. Of course they are just as happy playing and chasing each other in the surf by themselves too.

The dolphins are hard to spot when you're down at beach level, especially if they are out behind the breakers. The carpark near the Curio Bay campground and on the way to the lookout, is an ideal place to stop...

...and scan the waves. And with so many eyes looking, it doesn't take long for someone to let out an excited shout. 

If you're lucky the dolphins, especially the mothers & calves, can sometimes be seen swimming right below the bank in the sheltered corner of the bay. 

This father was helping his sons learn to surf on the small waves that were formed on a small reef just offshore when two Hectors came to visit...

...before moving further along the bay...

...and as word spread that they were in close, people started heading into the waves to swim with them. 

The dolphins had other ideas, and moved even further down the beach...

...to play by themselves. Unfortunately they were just about outside my lens range (and most people's view from the bank)- these shots have been heavily cropped and are a little blurry. But at least I got to see them playing and surfing the waves.

And to finish, a tail stand in their dinner suits! They look really unusual like this (don't forget to click on a photo to enlarge). One day I'll capture them up close, in the meantime I was happy to at least get a few shots of more than just their Mickey Mouse fins. 

See you sometime soon...