Hundertwasser In Whangerai; And A Botanical Curiosity

We're still moving slowly. We spent the day after our cliff walk holed up in a campground: rain and winds of 25-35 mph were (correctly) forecast for the next 24 hours, and we figured, why bother? Today, Wednesday, the 11th, was far better, so, after a bit of shopping in Mangawhai, we drove on, partly inland, partly along beautiful beaches and seascapes, to Whangerai, and parked in an approved overnight spot in a carpark near the regional stadium. 

Here I must remind the reader that the "wh" in Maori is pronounced as an "f." Seriously. So if someone says "whuck you," be offended, or at least attentive. And pronounce "Mangawhai" and "Whangerai" correctly. But I digress.

After lunch, we walked into the old town area, and, somewhat to our surprise, wandered into the Hundertwasser Art Centre. As students of this blog will recall, Friendensreich emigrated to New Zealand late in his life, built a farm near here, and lived out the rest of his days (except for consulting gigs) in harmony with Nature. He also designed the Hundertwasser Toilets in Kawakawa, something we've seen a couple times before, and had resolved to bypass on this campaign. We'd seen his toilets in Vienna just a couple months ago, not to mention other things, and think that we have discharged whatever obligation we may have had to further appreciate his work. But we had to look into the Art Centre, designed by Hundertwasser himself in the 90s, but not built until more recently. It is indeed recognizably authentic. The museum gift shop, I might add, easily surpassed anything we saw of the sort in Vienna. FWIW. 

On the way back to the camper, near some of the older historic buildings, we came across one of the more unusual plants we've encountered, a Gomphocarpus, from Africa, aka the scrotum plant or the bishop's balls. You saw it here first...

PS...a very loud rock concert at the stadium caused us to move to the TI out on the highway; lots of musical refugees here tonight.

At an RV/marine store in Whangerai...why there's a kettle shortage
in Auckland

Seeing the dome in the distance, we thought it might be an orthodox
church

But no, it's Hundertwasser Art Centre

Undulating tiled floors, just like the other Hundertwasser buildings
we've seen

The aforementioned excellent museum gift shop

Hundertwasseresque snail teapot

Fuller view

Tiny house adjacent to the museum/centre

We think the flag on the right is the Hundertwasser flag

Getting bilingual at a playground; Maori is still not on Duolingo!

The plant: Gomphocarpus

Thank you, Google Lens

Mangawhai Cliffs Walk, 2023

After our three days' respite at Orewa Beach--the last two featured some relatively nice weather, 70s, partly sunny, great for beach walks--we decamped and drove on north to Mangawhai and the beach/cliff walk there. Typically, depending on the tides, one hikes up the beach, then ascends the cliffs and hikes back on them. Or vice versa. This we did in 2018 (https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/03/mangawhai-cliffs-1.html and https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/03/mangawhai-cliffs-2.html) and also, part way, in 2014 (https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/03/waipu-and-mangawhai-heads_30.html). It is one of the most popular of the North Island's many day hikes. Except this day, the weather was not so great, gray, 25mph winds, spitting rain. Footing along the last half of the beach walk is rocky and challenging in the best of conditions, so we opted to hike both ways along the cliff tops, avoiding the difficult footing and also the sand-blasting along the beach. Not as good as the 2018 experience, but, hey, 16,000 steps and a couple hundred meters elevation gained and lost. 250 steps up and down, Vicki adds, which she surmounted and dismounted using her trusty walking sticks. And artificial knee.

Sentinel Rock, just out from the carpark and beginning of the hike

After a kilometer or so, we are now atop the "cliffs"

Seaward are Sail Rock and Hen Island; the Chick Islands off to the left

Just as on the west coast of Northland, miles and miles of undeveloped
beaches

Other direction, toward the Natural Arch on the beach

Basalt columns underlying the "cliff," reminding us in 2018 just
a bit of the Giant's Causeway and Fingal's Cave 

End of the trail, for us; note slip (landslide)

On the way back, Vicki has noted a tree that the wind is pretty
much ripping off the trail side; thinking this might make an
interesting video...

Rocking back and forth with each gust, the crevasse perceptibly
widening...

Maybe we'll come back in a few years to see whether
it's still there

Initial New Zealand, 2023

Our first week or so here has been rather low-key: outfitting our (rental) camper, moving in, making repairs/improvements, recovering from the long-haul, laying low through almost continual foul weather, adapting to the fact that it's apparently still spring here, not summer, as we expected. After picking up our camper in Auckland, we spent a few days at the nearby Pine Harbour Marina, then a few more at a campground in Tapapakanga Regional Park, on the Firth of Thames, and presently at a beachfront campground in Orewa, northeast of Auckland. Only today has the weather been partly sunny and without rain. This is our fourth long-stay in New Zealand--prior stints were in 2008-2009, 2014, and 2018--and we have been relatively nonchalant about planning, so far. We'll do the North Island first, ending in Wellington, then cross to the South Island and do it, turning the camper back in in Queenstown. Our only firm reservation so far is for dinner at Hobbiton in late January. Pictured below are the week's incidents and curiosities...which are much of what we like about this place.

But first, we are en route, enduring a 3 hour delay in Raleigh, but
enthralled by a "virtual" food hall

Apparently you don't have to wear a realty headset to eat here;
the only thing virtual about it, I guess, is that you can order 
from your phone...but isn't true of just about any place these days?

Next stop, the so-so Capital One lounge at DFW;
actually less than so-so, since the bar closed at 9

A mere 17 hours later, after the non-stop flight, immigration
customs, bio-security, and the huge duty-free mall, we are
at Jucy's Auckland center, picking up our camper; I will
spare you the dozens of photos taken to document prior
wear and damage and other things

Normally, one might balk at renting a vehicle with 328k kilometers
on it; but this is New Zealand, they never throw anything away, and
we've done it before

A ferry runs from Pine Harbour to Auckland,
and we had thought it might cool to take it
into town for the famous New Years' light
and fireworks show; but it doesn't run on the
holidays; go figure

Those first few days, we re-acquainted ourselves with several of

the grocery and other stores we like here...Countdown, New World,

Mitre 10, Warehouse; here are the greenies (mussels) at Countdown

We also explored several charity shops...here, called "op shops"
as in "opportunity"; beautiful "Cafe Paris" china set...

Corned mutton, anyone

Inexplicably, Jucy's do not come equipped with
kettles, and we searched high and low for one
that would meet our modest needs; electric kettles
are common as carrots, but this hob-top at Mitre 10
is the only hob-top we found; that's 75U$D! At
last we found a reasonable substite for 4$NZ at 
another op shop

We're here in this place and this time to see the great Pohutukawa
trees--New Zealand Christmas trees--in bloom

The place is covered with them, especially along the coasts north
Auckland, but they are just beginning to bloom...still late spring
here, evidently

After a few days, we moved on to Tapapakanga Regional Park;
we were able to dodge the squalls nearly every day, but didn't
do much more

Fishing the big waters

Huge float that washed up one day...floatsam?
jetsam? lagan? derelict? 

Fellow camper hauling off a dead...stout? possum? weasel?

Moving right along...there is currently an egg shortage

in New Zealand; cage eggs are no longer permitted and

the transition to colony eggs has been uneven...

A Rotel hotel...still in business apparently

Transportation costs, no doubt (8.13U$D)

We're wondering too

You have been warned

Outside the really nice New World supermercado in Orewa

View from our lunch table today

Afternoon at Orewa Beach