Tawharanui Beach - December 2009

Eric's parents arrived for their annual New Zealand visit in mid-December. They spent two weeks with us and during the first week, all five of us continued exploring the Land of Kiwis.

One of our destinations was Tawharanui Beach that a colleague had told me about some time earlier. The name "Tawharanui" refers to "the abundant bracts of the kiekie vine." This 588-hectare Regional Park boasts some of the Auckland region's most beautiful white sand beaches (a nice change from the west coast black sand beaches we had visited in the past), rolling pastures, shingled bays native coastal forest and regenerating wetlands. The park is also an Open Sanctuary, where native plants and animals including kiwi can live and breed successfully without the threat of predators.

Tawharanui Beach is about 1 hour drive north of where we live. The road meanders through farmland and ends with a winding gravel section. What one is greeted at the end of this trip is truly spectacular.





















And there is lots to do on the beach too. We went for walks,





built a sand castle,





soaked up the sun,



went spelunking,









played in water,





played "tag,"







and looked for buried treasure.



It was a great afternoon!