After another "lazy" day playing in the surf with the girls, it was time to say, "Goodbye" to Orewa and drive north up the Hibiscus Coast to Whangarei. We arrived at our hosts', Moira and Graham, beautiful home on Saturday afternoon. We spent a pleasant evening getting to know each other a bit, and the girls' loved playing in the upstairs lounge (which just happened to be filled with their granddaughter's toys!).
The next day, Moira & Graham suggested we "take a hike" along the Hatea River. Moira drove us to the Whangarei Falls - a gorgeous starting point and perfect spot for a quick picnic to carb up for the two-hour walk (at a very leisurely pace) ahead of us. Along the way, we walked through a magnificent kauri & silver fern forest lining the river. Teaghan & I even climbed a Kauri tree - check out her page..... It was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.
On Monday, we ventured out to Whanagarei Heads (another excellent tip from Moira & Graham) at the mouth of the harbour to check out Ocean Beach, on the east coast with nothing between us & Chile but the beautiful blue South Pacific. The surf was pretty wild here, so we just explored up and down the (deserted!) beach. Again, we were all struck by the awesome power and beauty of Mother Nature. Judy took a video to try to capture more fully this feeling; we'll try to upload it in the next few days. On our way, back, we stopped off at Smuggler's Cove, a beach on the inner harbour side of the Heads that was calmer so that the we were all able to run in and out of the waves. One unexpected highlight of this stop was the 15-minute walk over a hill through grazing cows to get to the beach, allowing Judy to get her requisite cow photo opportunity!
The next day, Moira & Graham suggested we "take a hike" along the Hatea River. Moira drove us to the Whangarei Falls - a gorgeous starting point and perfect spot for a quick picnic to carb up for the two-hour walk (at a very leisurely pace) ahead of us. Along the way, we walked through a magnificent kauri & silver fern forest lining the river. Teaghan & I even climbed a Kauri tree - check out her page..... It was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.
On Monday, we ventured out to Whanagarei Heads (another excellent tip from Moira & Graham) at the mouth of the harbour to check out Ocean Beach, on the east coast with nothing between us & Chile but the beautiful blue South Pacific. The surf was pretty wild here, so we just explored up and down the (deserted!) beach. Again, we were all struck by the awesome power and beauty of Mother Nature. Judy took a video to try to capture more fully this feeling; we'll try to upload it in the next few days. On our way, back, we stopped off at Smuggler's Cove, a beach on the inner harbour side of the Heads that was calmer so that the we were all able to run in and out of the waves. One unexpected highlight of this stop was the 15-minute walk over a hill through grazing cows to get to the beach, allowing Judy to get her requisite cow photo opportunity!