Maitai Bay

From Tokerau and Doubtless Bay we drove on to Maitai Bay and spent much of the day there walking the Merita beaches, several of them, each separated by a little rocky bit or hill. Beautiful broad sand beaches, low tide, sunny day...and great trees on the shores too.

Maori presence

Miles of mostly-deserted sand beaches, gentle surf...

Attempted pano

On an ebbing tide

Bivalves emerging

Gazillions of them; but the whole area is closed for regeneration;
no harvesting shellfish or other fish until 2020; by of the local
tribe

At Tikitiki we saw what is reputedly the largest of pohutukawas;
but I swear this one is just as big, and therefore the Grandmother
of Pohutukawas

Standing for scale

Too big to capture in a pano

Boulders on the beach

A dolmen? Yeah, right

At low tide all these beaches have got to be a couple hundred
yards of sand to the water

Beyond the bay, more islands, stacks...

More giant old trees

Cancading...

Unfriendly-looking marine specimen

And our favorite Oyster Catchers