Waipu And Mangawhai Heads

Our last touring day in New Zealand, as it turned out, included the town of Waipu and a walk on the beach at Mangawhai Heads. After that--we had other irons, other travels, in the fires--we drove straightaway to Auckland and the Manukau Top Ten Holiday Park and there commenced the usual reorganizing/repacking operation in preparation for our departure on Monday the 31st.

Waipu is a major historical site for Scots in New Zealand;
some 900 Highlanders settled here and then fanned out, in
the mid-19th century; the McKays, Vicki proudly notes,
among the Clans

A bit of the story...

There are building murals all over NZ, and I probably have not
represented them well; here is one, anyhow, in Waipu

Another beach--Mangawhai--another school field trip

The head

Mineral-laden boulders along the beach

And nice houses and wind mobiles

Looking south

And north; low-tide of course

Dunes beneath the cliffs

Island and sea stack across the bay

Uretiti Sunrise

After the glow worms, we camped at another DOC beach campsite, Uretiti. Next morning, not very early actually, I watched the Pacific sunrise from there.

Waipu Cave

Next stop on a busy day was inland at Waipu Cave, another chance for a spelio-experience, and...glow worms!

Cave entrance (lower right); this is a DOC site, no admission
fee, no guide, little signage, hardly even a warning about the
hazards of caves, etc; this is New Zealand!

Interior; yes, there's a creek flowing through

First you sit down by the big stalactite and wait seven minutes
for your eyes to adjust

Alas, the flash went off!

Anyhow, here are the glow worms

They are impressive, especially in constellations

Thus

And thus

Finally, it was time to head back...

To the Light...

Whangarei Heads

Next morning we drove out to the Whangarei Heads, way north on the Pacific side, and walked around the assorted coves, Bream, Urquhart, ending with Smugglers' Cove.

The usual weird trees and their many parasites; every old
tree is a veritable garden of other plants

More weird birds and bird calls

An usual site: an oil refinery in NZ

And a big ship

And an extremely rare WWII gun emplacement

Stan the Steer directs us to the gun emplacement information

The rest of the scenery was the usual spectacular NZ...

Thus

And thus

And thus

And thus

A distant lone sea stack

Whangarei Falls

The falls scenic reserve is right in Whangarei, a port city of some size, and the reserve includes a nice trail along a creek leading to a small Kauri park.

Whangarei Falls

Ditto, from below

Basaltic columns on which the thing rests...Fingal's Cave...

Pretty creek

More bush

More medium-sized Kauris, and a short
canopy walk

Thus

Whangaruru To Whangarei

It was a day of leisurely scenic driving, coastal views and beaches, cliffs, weird trees, terraced hills, the Tutukaka scenic loop, the Whangarei Falls scenic reserve (next post), finally ending up in a cabin in Whangarei.

Beneath The Southern Cross

Finally, at Whangaruru, I got a decent picture of the famed Southern Cross...