Silja: Aukland – Whangarei – Doubtless Bay

We have only been here a couple of days and already I do not know where to start...

  As I mentioned in the previous post: We had such a wonderful time with Anette, Roy and Caitlin and were far too busy to write much. It was great to have such good guides the first few days that patiently answered all our questions. 

They took us to two beaches that were under an hour's drive away. The beach in Miruai was on the west coast, where we were met by strong winds and a huge swell, which makes it a popular place among surfers. It is also popular among ganets (Deutsch: Tölpel) that nested there in great numbers and we were able to get amazingly close via steps and balconies that were built into the cliff ( - and unfortunately excluded Anette in the wheel chair from the experience).

The next day, when the kids were done feeding the cats, fish and chickens (and even collected their own egg each!), we all went to Wenderholm Regional Park, which was on the east coast and had a completely different character. It was rather windy here, too, but not so much at the beach and the water was quiet. Here they could swim in the water and build sand castles until it was time to say good bye. Both Caitlin and Lisa were devastated and crying because they had become such good friends.

For a reasonable $10 we stayed the night at the park, from where we went on several walks through dense, lush forest full of unfamiliar plants and sounds. We spotted tui birds, wood pigeons, a very colorful parrot…

Then we went on to Whangarei, a city with a lively harbor. Here we found a huge playground and  interesting shops and galleries for souvenir-hunting. So we ended up with such originality-lacking items as 3 jumping kiwi-bird toys and a fridge magnet, a ring made with paua ( abalone shell or marine opal)) and a t-shirt.

We left the city for a couple of hours to visit the A H Reed Kauri Park, where a canopy walkway leads you through an amazing forest of huge and ancient kauri trees, fern trees and palm trees, again accompanied by the sounds of exotic-sounding birds. We then carried on to the Abbey caves and while I stayed with sleeping Lea, Axel and the other two took their head lamps and explored the limestone caves. When they came back they eagerly talked about glow worms, an eel and more.

From Whangarei it was only a short drive to the Tutukaka Coast, where the perfect beach at Matapouri made it impossible to carry on. Instead we collected shells, hunted crabs and just lay in the warm sand.

When we finally drove on, we passed several other great beaches but nevertheless kept driving until we got to Doubtless Bay. Here we parked right by the sea, enjoying the sound of the waves and a glass of New Zealand red wine.