Auckland and Ngunguru

Auckland put on glorious weather for us, we were so lucky! Our accommodation, (above), was perfectly located for all our activities and the manager Ivy, was lovely, highly recommend! We stopped in to visit my parents first, then booked into our room and hit the city viaduct for a walk around the water front and dinner at the fish market.

Dessert at Movenpick of course 🙂

The next day we were up early to find some e-scooters to allow us to travel along the walkway to Kelly Tarltons. It is about a 5-6 km walk so very walkable, but we wanted to try out the scooters and seemed like a perfect opportunity. Was so much fun!!!!! So glad we did this, I had been slightly concerned I would fall off!!!

The ocean views along the way so nice…

Kelly Tarltons, an underwater aquarium, did not disappoint, build in 1985 (I remember how big of a deal it was back then, I was 15! It was such an engineering feat) it is now one of Auckland’s top visitor attractions.

It seems I do appear to be shrinking! I never notice how short I am until I stand in the middle of these two!

It was then onto the zoo. When Luca was little, my parents sent him a map of this zoo and it was greatly treasured, he waited years to be able to finally go. He still has the map, worn out from being looked at over and over. When we arrived in NZ back in November 2018, we went and Luca very much wanted to go back again this time 🙂

We then drove to Mission Bay for dinner on the beach. My Dad grew up around here, it is a lovely spot. We got take out , ate looking at view with Luca sharing his meal :). This is Rangitoto Island. It is the youngest and largest of Auckland’s 48 dormant volcanic cones. I have climbed it once, a very long time ago, back in my 20’s.

We left early the next morning heading north. It was not a long drive to our destination, about 2-3 hours, so we meandered our way up. Stopping firstly at the Puhoi Pub for brunch.

This was established in 1879 and a very iconic country Kiwi village pub. We missed the stump cutting competition by a day! Actually this is a good thing, as this place turns from a sleepy little village of around 400, into one with thousands of people! It is known for its cheese and Bohemian roots and great kayaking routes. Such a wonderful way to start the day!

We also stopped over in Matakana, known for the pottery of Morris and James. I used to love it there but have to say it has got VERY busy, overcrowded and the little village I loved is not what it was. We hit the road again detouring to show Rich and Luca my first high school, (I went to 5 in total), and a couple of places I spent a lot of time in, Paparoa and Maungaturoto, neither of which have changed much since then. Then it was north to Whangarei, this is the norths only city. It is where I went to boarding school for my last year of school, and also where I did my nurse training. I have not been here for over 25 years! It has transformed itself into a welcoming beautiful city. The waterfront back in my day was rather seedy and not somewhere you would hang out, it is now a wonderful destination in itself.

The the Hundertwasser Art Centre is on the waterfront. Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born in1928 in Vienna. He was a visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection. He travelled and lived all over the world. He emigrated to Northland in the 1970’s and is buried here on his land (dying in 2000). My family were friends and neighbours of his. His boat the Regentag, was looked after by them when he was away, and I worked on it during my summers when I was doing my nurse training. He gave so much to this area, and it is gratifying to see how this how been acknowledged and embraced.

The esplanade a place to relax and stroll along has added so much to the city overall, it is gorgeous, with a warm welcoming feel to it.

We arrived at our next accommodation in the evening and were not disappointed by the view nor the place itself, it is perfect! So very lucky!!!! View with our morning coffee…

The next day we went off to explore. The weather continued to be spectacular!

Here is the entrance to the Tutukaka harbour, it is obvious why so many moor their boats here. This was taken from the old wharf, I remember fishing here as a kid 🙂

We wanted to go somewhere a little off the beaten track for a swim so headed to Whale Bay. This meant a hike in, but that in itself was lovely. The flora and fauna of NZ never ceases to amaze us.

Yes it was as warm and gorgeous as it looks! Even I went in for a swim which proves it 🙂 I only go in the water when it is warm!

At this point , it really felt like we were now on holiday ❤️

For Christmas I booked Luca and Rich onto a trip to the Poor Knight Islands to do some snorkelling and sea cave exploring (it has one of the largest in the world). These islands are a marine reserve and 11 million years old! Some of the wildlife on there are not found anywhere else. Time magazine added it to their “greatest world places” list in 2024 so really it is a must if you are here 🙂

Rich is holding a Weta in the below photo. Weta have been around long enough to see dinosaurs come and go and to evolve into more than 100 different species, all of them endemic to New Zealand.

They were away at 10:30 and home at 7pm, spent most of that time in the water. Arrived back tired, sun kissed, and very happy 🙂

The next day was a bit of a nostalgic one for me. I wanted to show Rich and Luca some of the schools and farms I grew up on. This involved quite a bit of driving as I grew up so remotely. We started the day with a hike around the Whangarei Falls this was on our way and not far from where we are staying. This too has had a major upgrade with an amazing river path put in around it linking it to residential subdivisions that did not exist in my day. I did get us a bit lost which meant we ended up doing some road walking (I am not going to be allowed to forget that one), but we all agreed the bush and river part was awesome 🙂

After that we hit the road…. firstly Tauraroa to see my 4th high school, then onto Waiotira to see my second primary school and farm I lived on. Next Ararua to see my 3rd primary school and another farm I lived on (both these farms pictured below). This all involved a lot of gravel roads and big distances. Was really nice to be able to show Rich and Luca these places, they have heard the stories over the years of me riding my horse to catch the school bus, and how tiny the schools were etc. Rich’s comment was “it really is remote, isn’t it?!” Maungaturoto on the map below, is where we called in on the drive up here, to see my first high school (Otamatea). We also called into my last high school in Whangarei. I boarded there as Tauraroa School day did not cater for the last year of high school. All the schools have been upgraded and added to except Ararua, which has closed as a school and is now a residential home.

We made it to the Matakohe as well. This was a village I always loved and spent time in (the tiny schools we all went to back then would meet up for sports days etc and each school would take turns to host). A museum was started here many years ago out of an old house, it has now turned into quite the spot to visit, about 5 times the size of what it was like when I lived here, was really good to look around it. A lot of the old buildings have been preserved, both residential, commercial, school and churches, it is a lovely little village in a picturesque setting.

That is the Kaipara in the background, it is the largest natural harbour in the Southern Hemisphere and highly historically significant to both the Maori and European settlers for food and transportation.

This brings us to today. It has been another beauty! Luca and I went horse trekking in this morning, we try to do this a few times a year and now seemed another perfect opportunity. It did not disappoint; the horses and company were wonderful. Even stopped to pet some local wild eels 🙂

That is Luca’s hand in the photo, they are hungry and looking for food. When I was young my brother and I used to catch these and cook them up. They are protected these days as numbers were dwindling, they are not at all wary of humans and see them as a food source nowadays.

Luca was introduced to horses early. Here is a photo of the first introduction, we were in deep conversation no doubt about the visit 🙂 The horses lived next door to us on a property backing onto our few acres. Luca was born in Manitoba, he was so little, but mighty, always up for an adventure ❤️️ Has grown a bit since then but his sense of adventure still strong.

After the ride we hit the beaches, taking another fairly short walk to a secluded cove, you need to get there when the tide is low or cannot walk to it. We can see it from the place we are staying and wanted to find a way to get there.

The boys did swim across to the other side. The current was strong, I was worried, they made it there and back, but even Rich said it was further than it looked, and he is a strong, good swimmer.

The photo below is looking back towards our accommodation, right at the skyline in the middle of the photo

I stayed on this side and swam in the warmer part of the water close to the beach, blissful!

Tomorrow is our last day here, then we head north to out next accommodation in Mangonui. More in next post…