Day 168 Port Waikato

Well, we got our wish, maybe too much.  It was a bright sunny day and hot, very hot.  We started the day by climbing up a set of stairs to a lookout which was right behind the campsite.  This gave a good view of the estuary of the Waikato River and the sand dunes.

The Estuary



Waikato River





Port Waikato Holiday Park




Port Waikato



After lunch I wanted to check out the sand dunes but Kathy had no desire to go tramping around in hot , soft sand, so I set out on my own.  What a brave fellow. 

Sand dunes park form a natural breakwater for the estuary and it is quite large.  I started out by walking between the sand dunes and the river, met some fishermen, saw some birds and just enjoyed my time.



Bank of the Sand Dunes





Pied Shag




The tide is out




Waikato River



I walked about three quarters of the way to the end of the spit before turning inland across the dunes to the Tasman Sea.  It was not easy going as the sand was very soft and very hot.

I finally reached the beach on the Tasman Sea.  It was so very refreshing to walk into the water and cool off my feet.  The beach was like many we have seen on this coast.  Long stretches of black sand that seem to go on forever.   This beach was much cleaner as it did not have as much driftwood and debris on it.

I headed back toward town and sunset beach.  It was a fairly long walk but I had the beach to myself, it was pretty nice.

I ended up at Sunset Beach, the local swimming and family beach.  There were a few people enjoying the hot day.  I was getting pretty tired and a still had a couple of kilometers to walk back to the campsite.  So I took a few pictures but didn’t stay that long. 

I got back to the campsite just in time to get the charcoal BBQ going.  It turned out to be a pretty good day.  My short jaunt into the sand dunes turned into a 2 ½ hour hike but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  We are leaving here tomorrow but we are not sure what the day will bring.  Kathy lost a crown, it seems to be going around, and has a dentist appointment in the early afternoon.  It is in a town about 50 kilometers down the road, not sure where we are heading after that.