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.

Lagoon Babies

This post is dedicated to Jim Fowler, who would have told me off in no uncertain terms for talking about baby coots and cute ducklings!

This morning I took a spring walk beside the Lagoon. Quite a few ducklings were around- and I know Jim would have told me exactly which species these were.

But mainly today I spent my time watching four young coots on a nest, and their two parents who were feeding them.

 Here are three of the four young coot waiting for a parent to bring food.

 The fourth young coot was on top of the nest, next to two large eggs that seemed to have been abandoned. I wondered if they were swan eggs, but perhaps they could have been goose eggs.

Now two of the young coots are up on top of the nest, near the large eggs.

 Here is a parent returning to feed the young. (You can see this other shot of feeding on my 365 blog.)

 In this shot you can see that the baby coot already seems to have some sturdy legs and feet.

 Another feeding shot...

These young coot were venturing occasionally onto the water, but never far from the nest.

Orakei Korako

En route between Taupo and Rotorua today, I diverted off the main highways to visit Orakei Korako, a thermal park I had never visited before. What a treasure it was! When you arrive you see steam rising from the bush across a lake, but you really have no idea how extensive the park is going to be. Access is via a short boat trip over the lake, then most of the track is on boardwalk. That might sound 'modern' and 'contrived', but in fact you feel like you have stepped back into some kind of primitive pre-history.
There was so much to see, and I spent much longer there exploring than I thought that I would: these photos just give you a sample.

 One of the amazing features of this park is the amount of coloured thermal algae.

 Steam rises into the air over a large area, but native bush also thrives.

 I don't know whether the thermal environment had anything to do with this or not, but I liked the combination of lines and bubbles. (I presume it is a spiderweb, but I might be quite wrong.)

 Coloured rock, coloured algae, steam.... in so many different ways....

One thing that surprised me was how much bubbling hot water there was.

This fault scarp dated back to 131AD and near it there were small geysers blowing water out quite often.

This was called the Artist's Palette.

 Here is one of the small geysers blowing boiling water forth on the upper plateau- a place to view from above, not to walk across...

One of the pools with boiling mud puddles. Apparently there is more mud action when there has been rain, so winter is a better time to see these looking active. (Check back later for a short bit of video action!)

 So many viewpoints- so much to see...

Then when you think you have nearly finished and seen it all, you pass by this exquisite pool with very hot water bubbling forth.

I loved it at Orakei Korako. There were quite a few visitors, but it never felt crowded. And it felt like I had truly stepped back in time.
Just to finish off- a short bit of video clip of some of the boiling goings-on.

Manawatu Estuary

Sunday morning was glorious and I drove down to the Manawatu Estuary. (The tsunami warning from the previous day had been lifted.) There are birds that migrate here for our summer all the way from Alaska, and they are nearly ready to head north again. And some birds from further south in New Zealand over-winter here.

 The ranges you can see in the background are the Tararuas.

There is a pathway that skirts the edge of the estuary and passes the nearby houses. I loved this simple bach: an old-time bach of the kind typical in my childhood.

From near where the Manawatu River entered the sea, you could see the island of Kapiti quite clearly today.

And like always here, there was plenty of birdlife to see.

I think this larger bird is an immature black-backed gull, (though it is hard for me to be sure it isn't a brown skua.)

The bird behind in this duo, with the slimmer, taller neck, is probably a young black-backed gull.

Such a precious time, on such a gorgeous day... just slowing noticing the world around...

Postscript: Last July I also visited this estuary on a glorious day. Two days later I broke my arm. Suffice it to say that last Tuesday I was a bit nervous leaving the house....but I am happy to report I am still 'intact'.

Himatangi Beach

Some people turn up their noses at our Manawatu beaches, since they have grey sand, and lack 'pretty' bays. But I love the wildness you can have on the west coast, and here in the Manawatu, you can walk for kilometres along sandy beaches. And in fact, the Manawatu dune field is massive, on a world scale.

Today I left home early-ish to walk along Himatangi Beach before the sun got too high in the sky. But as it turned out, there was lingering coastal cloud that kept things cool until I had finished walking.

First, I wandered slowly down beside the stream, which had a lot of driftwood in it, and reflections of driftwood- that I had to stop and photograph. (I am always a sucker for reflections...)

If I had been rushing, I think I would have missed seeing this white-faced heron entirely: on the grey sand of the dunes it was well camouflaged.

And here for Maalie, is a black-backed gull, Larus dominicanus, which has a distinctive red spot on its bill.

And here the gull is flying away towards the dunes... They are planting more native spinifex on the dunes here now, which helps build a more stable dune, lower in height. Previously, a lot of marram grass was planted, but it isn't a New Zealand native, and it led to the building of very steep dunes that were not so stable, and were easily blown out by erosion.

 

Here are some seed heads from the dune building plants, that get rolled around on the sand in the wind, and thus become quite widely dispersed. 

Several fisherman were trying to catch some fish, but I spoke to this fisherman, and he wasn't having much luck in the conditions which were fairly calm.

By the time I was ready to leave, the coastal cloud was breaking up a bit, and I was able to take this photo of some cloud/sky reflections on the stream...