The next day was a driving day, up the left side of the Firth of Thames, past The City, Auckland, some provisioning on its north side, and then further north to a holiday park just short of Mangawhai, still on the Pacific side. And the next day, March 20th, we did the Mangawhai Cliffs walk. We'd done a bit of the beach part in 2014, but wanted to do it all this time. It's an 8km hike, half on the low-tide beach, then the return half on the "cliffs" above. The beach part, after a kilometer or two, changed into rocky volcanic out-crops, very jagged, then coves, then fascinating basaltic (?) columns like the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, then coves, and then a giant pebble beach, and coves. Not easy footing, much of it. Then, finally, the arch that marks the end of the beach bit, and the 200+ steps up the hill ("cliff") for the high walk back. And the 200+ steps back down to the sand beach. It was the longest walk we'd done in a while, and by the end of the day we were fairly fatigued.
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| At the River Holiday Park |
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| Looking north, beach and cliffs |
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| And back to the starting point |
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| Islands, sea stack |
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| Shell shard city |
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This large bird--a spotted swivel-head--and I nearly collided,
scaring the bejeebies out of both of us |
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| Jagged volcanic stuff, A'a, not pahoehoe |
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| Flotsam, jetsam |
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| Pohutukawas cascading down from the hill (cliff) |
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| Tidal pools |
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| Organisms in tidal pool (micro shrimp?) |
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| More lava |
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| And then, Vicki cries out "Giant's Causeway!" |
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| Not exactly, but close; I wish I'd studied harder in Geology 101 |
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| Going on |
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| And then eroding in the waves |
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| And then come the football and basketball size pebbles |
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| Lots of them |
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| Plenty to look at when you're not minding your footing |
