LittleSandyBeach

After checking into our off grid home our hosts showed us around their edible garden that they have been growing for 5 years. They have over 150 fruit trees and 100’s of other plants including herbs and vegetables.

We got to pick anything we wanted to try with the advice from the hosts on what everything was! There were many vegetables that we’d never seen or heard of before.

Our first place to explore was Whangarei Falls, a 26m high curtain waterfall just outside of the city centre.

We then made our way down through the forest to the bottom of the waterfall. Even though it’s very close to the city you feel completely out in the wild.

We then walked along the Hātea River which the waterfall feeds into. Everywhere in New Zealand they have shoe cleaning facilities when entering different areas to protect the local flora and fauna from disease.

Our next adventure was an hour drive away to Whale Bay. It’s known as one of the most picturesque beaches on the North Island and even though it was slightly cloudy when we were there it still looked amazing.

Unlike the name suggests you normally can’t see whales inside the bay as it’s too shallow. The name actually comes from when local Māori used the bay to launch whaling expeditions in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Just outside the bay it’s common to see whales, pods of orcas and dolphins passing along the coast.

On Tuesday it was a big day, Tasha’s last birthday in her 20’s! The local wildlife obviously knew as we were woken up by an Eastern Rosella chirping away just outside our window.

After a breakfast of chocolate cake and cupcakes we headed off to the Kiwi North Museum. It is home to the only nocturnal Kiwi House on the north island where they allow kiwis to fully mature before releasing them into the wild to give them a better chance of survival.

The kiwi is New Zealand’s national icon however its population has tumbled from around 12 million before the arrival of humans to around 70,000 left in the wild today. Places like Kiwi North help the chicks grow to adults before being released as 95% of chicks in the wild die from stoats and cats before reaching adulthood.

We got to go into the nocturnal kiwi house to see them feeding the one male kiwi they have at the moment called Thumper! Obviously it’s pitch black inside so no lights or cameras are allowed but it was very cool to see such an illusive animal up close. He was very fluffy and cute!

We then went around the museum which has over 80,000 artefacts covering three major topics, Māori treasures, natural history of the northland and early European settlers.

Also on the site is a heritage site that acts as an open air museum showcasing how the early settlers from Europe lived and worked. There was lots to look around including the original chapel from 1859 and Clarke homestead built in 1886 to name a few.

We then went off to find some vegetables to have with some steak for a birthday BBQ! Luckily only a short drive away we found Nadia’s Garden. Ran by a young girl it’s very popular with the locals in the area where they order bags of fresh veg every week. Luckily Nadia was very helpful and provided us with one of Tasha’s favourites, kale!

All ingredients acquired we then fired up the barbecue and got cooking! We’re going to miss this New Zealand beef!!

The next day we went to Smugglers Bay. The hike to the bay is about 30 minutes from the car park however we abandoned the first route as the cows were looking slightly protective of their calves….

After finding another route through the field we made it to the bay which was lovely. The views around with the rolling hills and mountains were amazing.

We walked to the end of the bay and at first thought we had found some plastic however after closer inspection discovered they were actually Portuguese man-of-war’s (also known as Bluebottles)!

The gas filled sac acts as a sail in the wind and they have one main tentacle that can extend up to 3 metres to catch their prey. The sting is extremely painful and can cause anaphylaxis shock in rare cases. Even though the ones we saw were washed up on the beach they can still sting so we made sure to step carefully!

Just a short 20 minute drive up the coast we checked out Ocean Beach. It’s a famous beach for its large sand dunes and as an excellent place for surfing.

We quickly gained a friend whose dad was surfing the waves. She was patiently waiting on the beach making sure that everyone was safe in the water! When we tried walking away she made sure to sit in front of us for extra head rubs!

It was soon time to drive back down to Auckland to return our hire car and make an end of our road trip around the North Island. As we were leaving our accommodation it was around 7am and we were lucky enough to see a group of wild baby kiwis walking across the track!

The first thing we did back in Auckland yesterday was to check out Mount Eden. It’s the highest peak in Auckland at 196m and gives great panoramic views of the city.

It is a dormant volcano that last erupted around 28,000 years ago. That eruption made a 50m deep, bowl-shaped crater and is a highly sacred Māori site.

This morning we went to check out Britomart Saturday Market. It had a selection of fruit and veg stalls, many food trucks selling most types of Asian food and fresh pastry stalls.

It was then time for us to enjoy Tasha’s birthday present… a high speed jet boat trip in Auckland Harbour! We got our life jackets on and were told to hold on with both hands and prepared to get soaked!

As well as going extremely fast the main party trick of the trip is known as the Hamilton spin. It’s named after Sir William Hamilton who invented the modern marine jet propulsion system. It’s basically a 360 degree turn which whips you around very fast! It was great fun and very very wet! It’s autumn in New Zealand so at 13 degrees we raced back to our hotel for a warm shower afterwards!

We have one more day in New Zealand before our extremely long flight to the city that never sleeps…. New York!