Hokianga Harbour via Tane Mahuta

We headed further northland on Sunday morning, taking a slight detour via Kai Iwi Lakes. We stopped at the edge of Lake Taharoa.



It was cold out there. Kien just wanted to cling to his daddy.



It was extremely windy.



It was also fabulously picturesque here.



The wind made the grass dance and sway, creating such wonderful patterns across the fields.



Back on the road, and Kien said he wasn't feeling well. Our little boy gets car sickness occasionally. Next minute we are stopping at the side of the road and cleaning him up. But look how happy he is with a fresh change of clothes!



Into the Waipoura forest half an hour later. It's beautiful as we get deeper into the forest under the canopy.







We were here to see Tane Mahuta, New Zealand's largest living kauri.



Spectacular indeed!





We then headed toward the mouth of the Hokianga Harbour. From up here we got such a splendid view of Opononi and the giant sand dunes across the harbour.







We drove down to Opononi, stopping off at the wharf.







Then onto the beach for some sand play and general fun in the sun.







It was such a fabulous afternoon in the sun.



We made our way home via Whangarei, heading from one coast of NZ to the other to visit Kien's granddad Warren and Margaret. Kien helped Margaret pluck and bag the silverbeet from their splendid garden for us to take home.



Wow, what a weekend we had. Many kilometres covered, lots of wonderful experiences.

Glinks Gully

On a blustery Saturday afternoon a few individuals from the Cole clan braved the rain and gail force winds out at Glinks Gully.





We trekked along the beach and then climbed the sand dunes, walked along the worn track leading to their old family camp site.



The remains still on the site were few. The most sentimental items were the smoke house and a wash tub, battered and eroded.





After Jef's great uncle Mostyn's funeral there had been talks of coming back out to Glinks Gully for a bout of flax darts flying - like they did in the good old days. So here we are, making flax darts in the middle of a beautiful storm.





As you can see we also had to make a rain coat for Kien, as the jacket I packed for him was not waterproof (although I did think it was).



Flax dart throwing...





...and Kien playing with a dart in the flourishing yellow lupins.



It's good to meet up with Jef's family out here.


Jef's cousins, Jacki, Jeanette and Marian in their city slicker gumboots.

They headed off, leaving us to hang around for a while longer.



I was told Jef's great uncle Mostyn made this track.



Jef's second cousin, Leanne, and her kids wanted to climb the sand dunes. So we all headed up there.





Along the way we found some darts that had landed.



We didn't go all the way to the top - but almost.



The west coast, always so wild, was today matched by the weather.





Our long walk back along the beach was fabulous. I breathed in the salty air and allowed all my senses to be overwhelmed. At this time, in this place, we were the only people to have this experience all to ourselves.



Good bye, Glinks Gully. We shall see you again soon.

Hand launched propeller at the museum

We have a wooden Chinese chopstick, and on that is a plastic propeller. If you spin it in your hands and let it go the whole contraption will fly up in the air (or in your face, depending on what direction you spun it). So needless to say I don't spin that propeller for Kien often.

We went for a visit to the Auckland museum the other day, and spent a good deal of time spinning and chasing the propeller in the lovely sunshine.







I love this place! I love the big open courtyard, the canons out the front, the wide steps, the tall structural columns...I could go on and on, and that's just the exterior of the War Memorial Museum!







I have lots of wonderful memories of this place during my high school years; this was one of my top 3 favourite places to visit when I needed to escape. I know, I look back now at how innocent I was, when at that time I was thinking how naughty it was of me not to be in classes! But I was learning none the less, soaking up all the information contained in this place, and letting my imagination wander as I pretended I was living in various times - my favourite being the nineteenth century. I even assigned my friends their own houses, stores, and occupations, and we would have make believe sessions of acting the scenes out, right there on the top floor in the Auckland 1866 replica section. OMG, I am such a geek!



Another part of this splendid museum is here.



I'm sure I have photos stashed away somewhere of my "misspent" youth here. I must dig them out sometime.