We woke up to another glorious day. Not real warm and a bit windy but very comfortable. We are scheduled to leave Waipu Cove today but we had to go for a walk on the beach first. The walk turned into a hike as we spent most of the morning just traipsing along. It is a beautiful beach.
 |
| Waipu Cove Beach looking North |
 |
| Point at South End of Waipu Cove Beach |
 |
| Another View of Waipu Cove Beach Looking North |
 |
| Waipu Cove Beach Looking South |
 |
| Beach Combing Safari Rod |
Once we finished our walk we headed towards Waipu where we would pick up the main highway that would take us to Whangarei. When we got to Waipu we decided to stop in to the local museum and we are really glad we did. We discovered that Waipu was originally settled with Scots who were forced to leave their homeland. They were forced off their tenant farms as the landowners discovered they could make more money raising sheep. However before arriving in Waipu they went first to Nova Scotia and settled in Cape Breton Island around 1817. It was about 35 years later when they decided to leave Nova Scotia for a few reasons but mainly the potato famine of 1848. It is labeled as one of the greatest migrations in the history of the world.
After leaving Waipu we pushed on to Whangarei and found a nice park to settle in for the night. Today during our travels we learned that Whangarei is pronounced Fangaree. There is no F in the Maori language so the WH makes up the phonic F. Once settled in we had an early supper and then went for a walk in the forest before it got dark. We are starting to feel really settled.
We were awoken Monday morning by the pitter patter of raindrops on the campervan. We were not sure what to do about the rain as we had planned a couple of hikes for today. We decided not to wait for the sun and headed up to AH Reed Kauri Park. The park is the headway for a couple of trails that lead to a canopy walkway and a loop through a Kauri forest. The weather was also on our side as the rain held off while we hiked. However it looked like it might start at any time.
 |
| Canopy Walkway |
 |
| Part of Kauri Forest |
 |
| More of the Forest below Canopy Walk |
For the next part of the hike we turned onto the trail to Whangarei Falls. The 2 mile walk in was quite enjoyable and the falls were stunning.
 |
| Trail to the Falls |
 |
| Hatea River |
.JPG) |
| Hey Den, check out the hat. |
 |
| Whangarei Falls |
 |
| Whangarei Falls |
After taking a few pictures we hiked back to the campervan and had lunch before heading off to Mount Parihaka Lookout. The lookout gives one an excellent view of the city and the harbor.
.JPG) |
| Whangarei Harbor |
 |
| Town of Whangarei |
 |
| Town of Whangarei |
We left the lookout, did a few chores and headed back to the campsite to set up for the night. Again the weather man was with us. As soon as we got everything done and set up it started to rain again and much harder that it did this morning. So in spite of the rain and wind it was another good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment