Whananaki

2 October 2013

We made the most of the school holidays and headed up north to Whananaki and Tutukaka. We stayed in Whananaki at a farm where I used to go on holiday as a kid and with the camping season only just opening the day before we arrived we were rewarded by having the entire farm to ourselves. We stayed two nights at Kings Beach and then another two nights at Barons Beach both fantastic beaches. We had an awesome few days camping and exploring the coastline, kayaking, snorkelling, horse riding, fishing and relaxing in this neat spot.

Enjoying the luxury camping at Kings beach - a beautiful surf beach with white sand, pohutukawas, and all to ourselves :-)

There were a pair of dotterels on the beach getting ready to nest and lots of red billed gulls .

We went for a big walk exploring the Motutara Reserve Peninsula

We used to camp in this valley when we were kids. It all looks a little smaller visiting this area 15 years later.

The estuary

We walked across the Whananaki walk bridge - the longest footbridge in the southern hemisphere at 350m long.

Barons Beach

We went for a kayak down to Otamure DOC camp, fishing at elizabeth reef, and snorkelling everywhere (even saw a seal).

Whananaki by night at Barons Beach. There was luminecense in the water and a sky full of stars being away from those city lights.

We went offroad horseriding. We took a rough path through a bit of forest then knee deep high with water into the estuary where we walked out to the main beach.

Great view up the estuary

Threatened Brown teal make the Whananaki estuary their home.