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!

Our Second Christmas in New Zealand - Preschool Two Concert

This year E's X-mas celebrations started in early December with a "concert" at his day care center. The children performed first (I was impressed with the number of songs the 3 and 4 year olds managed to memorize for the occasion),











and then grow-ups and their artist charges shared afternoon tea outside: "So many treats! So hard to choose!"





"So little time! So many competitors!"



On the way out, E spotted Santa and got his first X-mas present of the year.



Oh, and this year, I mustered up some more X-mas spirit than last year and we purchased a tree...



and decorated it Kiwi-style.

Whatipu Beach - December 2009

It's been so long since I last posted anything on our Kiwi Experience blog. It's not because we have not been travelling... to the contrary: we've been busy taking trips as well as preparing for our Exodus from the Land of Kiwis (more about this later).

Anyway, at the beginning of December we took a car trip to the west again. Our destination was Whatipu Beach. It is the southern-most black-sand beach in the Auckland Region, forming the north head of the Manukau Harbour. Looking southwest from the beach you can see waves breaking on the treacherous harbour bar. In 1863 New Zealand's worst shipwreck happened here when the "Orpheus" hit the bar and close to two hundred of those on board drowned.

Whatipu beach is not only remote and thus less frequented than the other west coast beaches. Also, the road to it is unsealed, and beach access is poorly signposted from the end of the road.

The drive from our house took well over one hour and it was not the easiest one towards the end, but it was well worth it!

After having a picnic, E and I set off on an "expotition" (we're heavily into Winnie the Pooh these days).



















We climbed the tallest hill on the beach and admired the views from the top.











And of course E engaged in some water play!











We stopped a few times on the way home to take some more pics!