We took a drive out today along Wainui Road from Te Ngaere (right hand start point on map) to Whangaroa Harbour. We didn't explore it fully as you will see from the links I'll add that there is quite a bit of history and lots of walks and places of interest. Maybe when we go back and I've had my knees sorted then the walking boots can go back on and we can explore what you can't get to or see from the driving along the roads.
Please note that we didn't actually end up 'in' the harbour as the marker on the map suggests.
I didn't take too many photos as we drove along, you just can't get a sense of it all, you have to experience it for yourselves, you really should add New Zealand as one of the places to see.
After passing by the lovely Wainui bay we stopped for a panoramic shot of one of the stunning views, how fortunate are the people living in that house to wake up to that view every day.
A little further along the road we turned right and drove down to Tauranga Bay
I thought I had a panoramic photo to show you but I can't find it....bizarre! Anyway look at the link and you'll see how lovely it is.
Our end stop today was Whangaroa Harbour which is such a lovely place.
I could live in that white house
On the top of the hill is St Paul's rock, known as St Paul's Done(pronounced like dome) so the bus tour driver told us as we passed it on our trip on Thursday. Is it just me or does the whole shot look like Tracey Island???? I was waiting for Thunderbird 1 to come out of the ground at any minute!
'Oh look! St Paul's!! Family joke ;-) Eh dad!! haha
A view of the harbour as we drove back down from the rock
and a yellow house on the hill
We sat and watched the boats, people fishing off the jetty and then had pizza for lunch at The Marlin Hotel, in the cafe attached. It was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.
Time then to head back, we didn't want to be out all day. The sun was shining and the beach beckoned. Our good deed for the day was to pick up an hitchhiker as we left Whangaroa. He was a young fella from Austria who was here for two months aiming to do as many walks and trails as he could. We were able to take him a few kms further up the road as Joe was looking for something.......
This to be precise...just the one 'b', our surname has two, but it did once only have the one.
After the photo shoot and a quick drive down the road itself, the plan was to go straight back to the bach(pronounce batch) to take the dogs to the beach. However we stopped for an ice cream at the store by the turn off to Matauri Bay and decided to go check the bay out and save ourselves the trip out the next day, our last full day.
This has to be the worst panoramic shot ever, the bay is so wide that it's hideously distorted but you'll get the idea of the stretch of the beach, look how mobbed it is!!
These photos that I put together(not very well) on PicMonkey might be better
On the road back to Te Ngaere (pronounced Teh Nighree) there is a look out point, I've taken some pics there before, but today it was much clearer and so I took another panoramic shot with my phone camera.....
Matauri Bay below with the stretch of white surf.
My friends the small gulls were still on the beach and posed quite happily as I try to get to grips with the manual settings on my camera, don't think I really know what I'm doing but C+ for effort!
And Joe took out the kayak for a spot of fishing, no fish for tea tonight but he caught plenty of undersized ones which always get put back, there are very strict fishing rules here in New Zealand.
Back tomorrow with Day 7, our last full day :(
thanks for the comments so far, I hope you're enjoying the tour.
Looks lovely,we liked the bit about st pauls lol x
ReplyDelete