Day 172 & 173 Takapuna, Red Beach

It rained pretty hard last night and was still raining this morning.  However things cleared up a little later and we were able to get out and enjoy the area.  We are in Takapuna right on the water.  The beach right in front of us was pretty rugged as there were a lot of old lava remains.  I noticed that some of the rocks actually looked like old tires lying in the sand.  On exploration I discovered that this area was once a Kauri Forest until  200,000 years ago when the volcano which is now Lake Pupuke erupted. The lava flowed into the forest setting it on fire.  Lava flowing around the lower part of each trunk cooled and solidified as a thick crust.  The remaining lava flowed on leaving meter high cylindrical moulds of hundreds of tree trunks.  The moulds have hollow centers created when the original wood slowly burned away.  It was pretty interesting.

I was waiting for Kathy prior to us heading downtown and I was standing outside our camper watching the seagulls. I never realized before how vicious and territorial they can be with each other.  They actually fight, it was pretty funny.

We headed out for our walk starting with the coastal area and the beach. It was nice but we had seen much nicer beaches in our travels here. 

So we headed downtown to have a look.  Takapuna being on the north shore has become a bedroom community with a lot of people travelling to and from Auckland via ferry.  We just strolled along doing a little window shopping and a little people watching.

We returned to the park via the beach but this time from the other direction.  The wind was blowing pretty good which made it perfect for surfing and parasailing.  We stopped and watched for awhile before heading home.  It was a good afternoon.

Day 173 which was Tuesday, March 22. We left Takapuna and headed a little further north to Red Beach.  We were taking the ferry over to Tiritiri Matangi on Wednesday and Red Beach was the closest camping site to the ferry terminal.  On the way we stopped at a large mall in Albany for a little shopping and to have lunch.  Once we completed our shopping we headed Gulf Harbor which is where we would catch the ferry.  We wanted to do a little scouting to make sure we wouldn’t be held up in the morning.  The area is quite nice so we also took a bit of time to take a few pictures. 

There is an island just off shore from the marina. The islands Maori name is Kotanui Island and the English name is Frenchman’s Cap. We were able to get shots of it from two different angles. We also got a shot when the tide was in.  The difference was quite significant.



Frenchman’s Cap





Frenchman’s Cap




Frenchman’s Cap



Once we had our bearings we headed over to the campground and checked it. This campsite is the very first one we stayed in when we first got here back in October.  Tomorrow we take the ferry over to Tiritiri to do a little hiking and bird watching.