Coromandel

For just over two weeks recently I explored something of Coromandel and Northland. Here are a few photos from the Coromandel part of the journey.

I spent a night in Hamilton en route and reconnected with some old friends. Called into the Cathedral Cathedral which has been extended since my days as a student in the city.

 I based myself in Thames for a few days at an old hotel. Romantic idea, but the noise from the bar wasn't conducive to sleep a couple of nights... The church of St James over the road was an impressive sight in the sunshine. Note the rainbow- sun only came in small snatches on this wintertime journey.

It was a beautiful trip north to Coromandel Town, with many views out to sea. I finally came to know what is meant by the 'Islands of the Hauraki Gulf".

A highlight for me was a trip on the railway at the property where Barry Brickell lived and worked as a potter for many years. What an inspirational man.

 The views from the Eye-Full tower at the top were impressive.

Next day I drove back up to Coromandel Town to go inland and east in a loop that took me up to Port Charles. Not a lot to see at Port Charles itself but the drive was dramatic.

 My favourite place in the whole of Coromandel was this viewpoint on the trip, on the way to Port Charles. The local Moehau Environment group have been working for many years to get rid of predators and enhance the environment for kiwi in the area, with the result that kiwi numbers are increasing.

After Port Charles I continued down the eastern coast for a while, passing farmland, ocean bays, and mangroves.

Himatangi Beach

Ahhh summertime- when there is time for a different little wander every day. Thursday evening I enjoyed a slow dawdle along Himatangi Beach and stayed to watch the sunset.

 I've lived in the Manawatu area for many years now- and still find it hard to believe it's possible to have so much beach to walk along, with very little company!

One of the reasons for the slow wandering today is that I had to watch out for jellyfish as I paddled in the shallow water. There weren't a lot- but there were some large ones!

We had some wild winds at the start of the week, and there was quite a bit of this 'spongey' seaweed on the beach, with whatever it was attached to- quite often the flat part of a clam shell.

There were two bits of detritus I picked up and carried to a rubbish bin at the end. There was a broken glass bottle with jagged edges that I was glad I never stood on. And I saw a young seagull curiously playing with this balloon. I was glad to retrieve it so it wouldn't be swallowed.

Then it was time to wait for sunset. These gulls seemed to be waiting too.

It was just a gentle setting of the sun this evening. The ash in the sky from the Australian bushfires, that caused so many vivid recent sunsets, has gone from our skies for now- and hopefully for those in Australia, there will not be much more of it.

Peace!

Easter Sunday

What a stunning day today for Easter Sunday- almost makes up for the many grey days of summer. There were crowds of people out on Foxton Beach enjoying the sunshine and the waves.

And for me, it was another 'farewell' for a few months. Strange to think that this time next week I will be in Paris.... It's forecast to be raining there when I arrive so don't be too jealous!

A walk along the beach

It's only a month now until I leave on my trip, and I felt the need to have a good dose of a Kiwi beach walk today. It was a lovely calm, warm morning and Himatangi Beach was at its glorious best.

It's a long, flat beach, and the tide was fairly far out when I arrived, so there was lots of firm sand to walk along.

I meandered for about an hour and a half, paddling my feet in the shallow wavelets, greeting the occasional fisherman, dog-walker or jogger as we passed each other. And I enjoyed noticing the 'little things' on the sand...

 ...the flotsam and jetsam being tossed in today's tiny waves. (It was so calm I almost began to wonder if I had stumbled onto an east-coast beach by mistake.)

And then I walked back again, back to my car. And I will hold the memory of this beach walk warm against my heart, to give me strength on any 'hard' days when I am far away from home.

'Foreigners' tend to think that Palmy is so unfashionably 'inland'- but it only takes half an hour to reach Himatangi beach. I'll be back here again as soon as I get home...

Akitio Beach Road Trip

Today I decided to take a little 'road trip' over to Akitio beach on the east coast. Though I've explored some of the other beaches and settlements in this area-  eg Porangahau, Herbertville, Pongaroa- I have never before made it down to Akitio.

I fell in love with Akitio Beach as soon as I arrived there. The pohutukawa were in the early stages of flowering right on the beach front- the flowers seem late this year after a grey November. I don't think anything shouts out 'summer' quite so loudly as pohutukawa by the sea.

It was a lovely beach to visit, with a peaceful, relaxed 'feel' to the settlement, and I must go back there sometime soon with my tent and stay a night. It is quite 'far away', and you have to travel on narrow, windy, hilly roads to get there, so even though it is peak holiday season, it wasn't too busy. There were quite a few people fishing, and boats were being taken in and out of the surf by tractors, (including some very ancient ones.) As I walked along the beach, I kept meeting friendly, relaxed people, keen for a chat. All very pleasant and low key.

The whole journey there and back was through a part of rural New Zealand we tend to call the 'heartland', and several times I met up with a 'traffic jam' along the road. It seems that this is a busy time of year for sheep farmers, getting their sheep into the shed for shearing etc.

I came home via the rural town of Eketahuna- and this lovingly knitted nativity scene was in the information centre.

And outside the information centre, was quite the largest Kiwi I have ever seen. Remarkable!

Out and About

In just over three months time I am heading off to France for some more walking, some of which will be quite 'hilly', so I have been 'out and about' walking, trying to get fitter. Here are just a few views from along some of the ways I have walked...

 This old fencepost on the Turitea Walkway sits amidst some of the lush grass growth 

we have had after the rains we had in November.

 On Himatangi Beach I saw many lined up along the short stretch of river, 

hoping to catch a few whitebait.

 Climbing up Turitea-Green's Rd gives me lots of up-and-down hills practice.

 Signs of summer- there were lots of spider nests on the long grass.

 Blechnum capense was the name I learned back in high school for this fern 

whose orange-edged fronds I love. It has a new botanical name now, but I can never remember it!

 From a high point on Green's Rd, I can see where I am about to descend down the road- 

only to climb up again just around the next bend. Truly, good practice for the Cluny route!

 This is the highest point along Green's Rd before I descend again to Kahuterawa Rd. 

The sign is showing that this is part of the Te Araroa Walkway down the length of New Zealand. 

 Back down on Kahuterawa Rd, a sign that summer is advancing:
the hay has been cut and baled from this paddock.

 Finally I got back onto the Gorge Walkway, which gives me more practice up hills and down...

The Gorge road is closed at present by this huge, unstable slip, which is taking months to clear.
But you can still walk the walking track- it's just not quite so easy to leave a car at each end
if a group want to walk the whole track in one direction.

331: Himatangi Beach

This was the first really fine day we have had for ages and the beach was calling. The tide was really high, and I ended up with really wet trousers, but the water was surprisingly warm. Loved the walk. And it was especially good to have a day that provided an inkling that summer might truly be just around the corner- because most of November the weather has not been so good...

Himatangi Beach

Today it was hard to believe that snow had been such a dramatic sight for us earlier in the week in Palmerston North. It was glorious and I decided to head off down to Himatangi Beach for a walk. You could see the higher parts of the Tararua Ranges from there, and could see that snow still lingered quite thickly on the higher peaks.

 Himatangi Beach is one that I think we Kiwis tend to underestimate as a trifle 'boring', but I have grown to love it: such a long uninterrupted stretch of sand to walk along next to the waves. So many ways the waves can come into shore- and so much they can bring with them. Today I bring you a few photos of some of the shoreline gifts left by the waves.

 Small bits of driftwood were being moved around at the edge of waves today. And each time the gentle front end of the waves rolled in, the various bits of wood were jumbled together in different ways.

And though most of the shells at this beach are of one kind- boring to us, but apparently 'endemic' and special to this region- there were other shells tossed on the sand to amuse my eyes. 

 I walked quite far, as did others. But when it came time to go, I couldn't quite leave the place, and sat on some driftwood, watching others wander by. Near me a small boy was playing with his parents. He was so happy just being at the beach. He rolled his little body along the flat sand for a good ten metres, then he stood up and ran to his mother, then ran back to his father, then climbed a 'mountain' of sand and driftwood, an Everest explorer in the making. The beach was today a place of calmness and relaxation, and sheer fun for all-comers.