Sightseeing on the Karikari Peninsula by Jenny

23 February

After a leisurely start we cleared our accommodation and headed out for the day.  We stopped in at the Ka Uri museum, which wasn't opening officially until 3rd March, unfortunately. 

We looked in through the doors and saw an awesome looking waka, as well as having a lovely morning tea. A hungi filled spring roll, smoked kahawhai and kumara pie, kumara cake, a passionfruit muffin and a pork and puha roll. Very appropriately named.









We continued on to explore the Karikari Peninsular. This used to be the back of beyond but is now heavily salted with holiday communities for Aucklanders, or commuters from around the north. 

However it had beautiful beaches and we took the oppurtunity for a refreshing swim. It was fun to drive along the roads for the views and just to see what was at the other end, (even the roads that Bruce insisted were not a road according to google). To the north was Rangaunu Harbour, a huge expanse with the tide in, and to the south Doubtless Bay.

A highlight for Jenny was Ross spotting the Oleo in the river at Awanui. This had been her Grandad's boat for many years and she had never seen it before. Another connection; it turned out her Grandfather was stationed at Waipapakauri during the war in the Home Guard, when Japanese invasion was considered immanent.

. 

We got back to Waipapakauri where Bruce and Joanna made a delicious dinner.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tawharanui Regional Park, the glass bottom boat and a picnic lunch.

Image
 We trooped down to the shore looking out towards Goat Island - according to the tour guide on board New Zealand has 22 goat islands, but this one has the distinction of never having had goats on it. It had two pigs, but they swam ashore at low tide, so he thinks it's mammal free - and bought tickets for the glass bottom boat. Three seniors and three adults. $220. The water was clear and the tour guide was informative. The larger fish had other places to be. We did see flurries of blue maumau, a range of different sized snappers, and lots of kelp. And quite a few red moki.  At 12 we lunched at a well placed picnic table overlooking the bay and watched the snorkellers. We ate a great assortment of leftover food from the fridge and then after a change of clothes set off for Tawharanui Regional Park. This is a hugely popular park, considering the amount of campers and surfers here, especially on a Thursday outside of school holidays.  We had high hopes of seeing Takahe, but ...
Read more

Sunday 26 February in Russell at the oldest church by Joanna

Image
Today was a rest day.  First we attended the St James anglican church at Kerikeri, at the Stone store Kemphouse mission enclave. The ships came into this bay from Australia with supplies back in the 19th century. Both places had interesting histories and we enjoyed our relaxing morning.  After lunch we took the ferry to Russell and the visited the oldest church in NZ and admired the pew cushions.  We went to a printing press - Pompalier house - where they set up a printing press to print Catholic books in Te Reo.  There was also a tanning industry in the same complex so we had a very informative tour. We bought indian takeways for dinner, and caught up on the laundry. Total steps for the day: 8820. Total steps for last week: 148703, or 104 km
Read more

Auckland Auckland! Our last whole day

Image
  Britomart and overpriced coffee.  That was the start of the day having taken the train from Otahuhu because the Onehunga line - like most lines in Auckland - is closed for repairs.  Then putting our best face forward we put on our grimaces and started the walks around the Auckland Streets. This turned out to be more interesting than expected, partly due to the ongoing search for the street signs saying where our next corner was.  Eventually we made our way to the bottom of Eden Park and Jenny insisted we depart the 20km route and go to the top of Mt Eden. And having done this, and hardly complained once, we had the best view of Auckland we could hope for.  Joanna had also requested a detour through the Wintergarden, so you can see some photos of this as well.  Then onto Cornwall Park, commissioned and paid for by the John Logan Campbell Trust - after Burger King for sustenance.  We side-swiped One Tree Hill (Bruce insisted we half summitted it) and o...
Read more