Easter Egg Hunt on Zoonie and Zoologist Ruby examines a rare kiwi with egg.
Early on Easter Sunday Rob and I laid out the Easter Egg hunt on Zoonie. Rather than have the children competing with eachother Rob set the clues for Henry going forward from the saloon and I set slightly easier ones for Ruby. Gary and Emily sat in the saloon and watched the excited event unfold as the tally of eggs increased until they both had found all seven, not the biblical seven but there had been 15 in the box and allowing for hunt master’s tax that made seven each.
Armed with a picnic lunch we all squeezed onto Vicky and drove to the car park half way to the Whangarei Falls. At last the weather was warm and sunny and the family were impressed by the pretty falls just on our doorstep. It was too crowded for the picnic at the foot of the falls where we had sat before with Charly and Tom and Tony and Gail on two separate occasions, so we climbed the hill to the top and found an empty table in the park area beside the river.
The walk back down to the car park was sunlit and beautiful. The children saw a Kauri tree but they were too young to be interested in the details of the North Island’s most magnificent and rare tree, maybe they will just recall Granny’s enthusiasm.
Grandad was leading the troop at one stage when he disappeared for a few minutes. On his return he signalled for the children to be very quiet as he had just made and extraordinary discovery. Not one but two Kiwi were hiding in the grass, each with a single egg, just to one side of the pavement. We couldn’t believe our luck especially as Kiwi are usually nocturnal. Very gently the children took the (chocolate) birds from their grassy home and carried them carefully back to the car.
Back aboard Zoonie we had supper before Emily and Gary left Henry and Ruby with us for their sleep over on Zoonie and caught a taxi back up to the campervan for a rare, childless night.
A Day at the seaside.
Early the next morning we took the children to the challenging and safe park next to Zoonie for some fun and exercise before Gary and Emily arrived and we made our way to Matapouri Bay on the Tutukaka coast just north of Whangarei for a classic day at the seaside. The swell off the South Pacific Ocean rolled into the bay and gave the more adventurous some thrilling fun and grandad spent ages lifting Ruby over the breakers while the rest of us looked on. Of such things are the best memories made.
Back at camp we telephoned ‘Hell’ takeaway and ordered some of their well- reviewed pizzas. They were good, and we tucked in hungrily, looking back on our lovely day at the beach and looking ahead to tomorrow when we would collect Lauren from Keri Keri Airport and once again our family would be complete.
Kiwis and anyone for Morepork?
Keri Keri is an up market little town and we strolled the centre street before enjoying coffee and hot chocolate at one of the many al fresco cafes. We were killing time as Lauren made her way from Wellington via Auckland to the little airstrip nearby grandly named the Bay of Islands Airport.
At a little settlement hamlet called Rewa’s Village we made a picnic in the camper and took it to a table by the pretty river with its historic stone store and Kemp House opposite and a natural stone weir creating a handy dam for the ducks and gulls to bathe in. This site is also where some of the first Maoris settled hundreds of years back and now areas where they lived and worshipped are preserved and treated with respect. From here north there were many such early Maori settlement sites and meeting halls, maraes.
We made our way to the airport and enjoyed Lauren’s return so we could continue our adventures together. That afternoon we arrived at Hihi, a peninsula that wraps around Mangonui Harbour and has an ocean side and a sheltered side. We pitched our little tent in one of the most lovely holiday parks we had yet visited in all of NZ. Privately owned and run by a couple who wanted the best for everyone.
This beautiful seaside area was once the busy scene of the whaling and trading industry and in Cable Bay from 1902 to 1912 the Pacific Telegraph Cable Station linked Canada, Australia, Norfolk Island and NZ. We so loved the area and atmosphere we determined to return sometime during the next year and spend a few days exploring.
But now was the time for an afternoon on the beach. As Captain Cook sailed past here he was recorded to say, “That is Doubtless a Bay” and the name stuck. We were awaiting the sunset which had the promise of surreal beauty but before then we paddled, combed the beach, marvelled at the tiny chitons wedged into crevasses on the rocks and chatted to a local who was saving up for his own boat so he could go fishing.
Ruby took the photos of the sunset as we all sat on the beach wall. There was that atmosphere once again, small groups of people lost in the timeless wonder of the passage of celestial bodies passing in a constant orbit and perpetual motion linked in no way to man’s activities. None of it was lost on the children, they were as rapt as us adults.
During the night we lay awake listening to mysterious ear splitting screeching sounds and the owl like calls of what we identified as a pair of Morepork. The name is onomatopoeic and can be mimicked by blowing into cupped hands. But what of the screeching cries? Could they be kiwis? We knew there were kiwis around because of the road signs requesting caution at night.
We packed away the tent to the accompaniment of Tui birds and their delightful, quirky orchestra of tuneful sounds interspersed with clicks, rattles and wheezes. Their random choice of sounds meant they were always fun and interesting to hear.
The I Site at Kaitaia is brand new, so new that Gary’s sat nav took him on past it to the old building and we waited in the centre for them to find their way back. The lady confirmed that the sounds we had heard the night before were indeed wild kiwi, magic.
We clambered aboard the Sand Safari Coach mystified by the fact that they had no record of our booking the trip. I was mildly annoyed and looked forward to sorting the problem out when we arrived at the Kauri Kingdom where our bookings would be checked.
Fortunately there was plenty of room on the coach this time of year so we would not be disappointed but with only that day to spare for the trip I wanted some answers. The lady asked numerous annoying questions like “Are you sure you booked with us and not the ‘opposition’?”, and “Did you book for today?”
“Yes to both of those questions and I remember your accent, so it was with you that I booked.” That sorted that out and we were now ready to go.
To the Top of the North
The tide was low on the beach side of the Cape Reinga Peninsula when we started out so our driver lowered the vehicle down the Waipapakauri Ramp onto the beach which, apart from the NZ Highways, was flatter and smoother than many of the roads we had travelled inland so far. The sea is a great leveller.
The Ninety Mile Beach is in fact just under 90km long, but the first version sounds so much better doesn’t it. The last time we had been in a vehicle on a beach it was Vicky, on the Oreti Beach south of Invercargill at the other end of the South Island on the 24th Feb.
The shining Tasman rollers rushed in towards us on our left and giant dunes with their wigs of sage green dune grass swayed in the breeze backed by the Aupouri Forest, a vast pine forest planted by man after the kauris had all been extracted. We stopped at Te Paki Stream to take in the atmosphere, noise and smells of the ocean. Apart from the forest the wild, windswept expanse of ocean, beach and dunes looked almost too big for it to be possible that man could spoil it.
Our driver warned us that there was a strong rip tide along the beach which over the years has claimed its share of human life so we headed his warning and just paddled in the warm shallows and then clambered up onto the dunes for a different view. I found a strange loaf like object on the beach which, when I broke it apart, looked like a loaf made of soft orange sponge. Could this possibly be ambergris, from a whale and used to fix perfume and therefore astronomically valuable. We Googled it later to find that the real stuff is hard like hardened wax, so our acquisition of fabulous wealth was again put off for another day.
Next on the agenda was a coach ride up the Paki stream with its patches of quicksand to the giant sand dunes and a touch of sand tobogganing for the intrepid amongst us. Gary and Henry decided to have a go and clambered up the steep 100 foot high mountain becoming little dots in the distance queueing up for their turn.
There was one other child, a little girl of eight with her dad but apart from her Henry was by far the youngest and we waited with baited breath for their descent. There is a technique to most activities and this one is no exception. Many of the folk hurtling down the duneside sped straight across the stream, the water of which lubricated their passage like a sheet of oil. It looked like fun but they did get a drenching. Gary applied his intelligence to the situation and dug his toes in a little to act as a brake and his descent was beautifully controlled. He stopped at the dry base of the hill. Henry is lighter, I thought, so he should stop before the stream anyway.
Positioned ready to catch them on camera I remember feeling the surge of pride as they took off downhill since it must have been more than a little daunting a prospect from way up there. Big hugs all round for our heroes of the day, Gary and Henry. I wondered if Maori children centuries ago enjoyed such fun here.
The last stop before lunch was at The Cape Reinga Lighthouse (Te Rerenga Wairua) where the spirits of deceased Maoris leave NZ and return home to Hawaiki, the eastern Pacific island from which they believe they came. We were lucky to have perfect weather to take in the 360 degree views. At the time we were there, roughly midday, the invisible join between The Tasman Sea and The South Pacific Ocean was marked by the shimmering path of silver sunlight over the crystal water.
The exposed position of the Cape had weathered many of the explanation boards so they were almost unreadable but I have included a few that tell the story of this much loved area with its fine lighthouse, a beacon of welcome to weary mariners from all over the world.
Our picnic lunch at Tapotupotu Bay overlooking the Pacific was all too short and we were soon on the road back to the Kauri Kingdom enjoying fine ocean views. We had a little longer than expected there as the gearbox on the coach had seized (all that seawater!) so we awaited a replacement coach. I took some photos of the kauri trunks and roots taken from nearby bogs to be used for carving furniture and tourist products. Ruby posed on the seat of a vast trunk located in the showroom and I bought a 43,000 year old set of salad servers, just for fun.
The next day was the last day with our family. Our final trip was local, to the Kiwi North home of the two little kiwis we had seen twice so far. Naturally they were older now and as happens when young males and females of any species grow older their little minds turn to breeding. So it was that a wall had been built across the dark indoor enclosure to separate them. The little male had taken to his box in what can only be described as an adolescent sulk, but the female was out and about.
Henry and Ruby were very good and understood the need to be very quiet and still if the female was to come anywhere near us. Their patience was rewarded when the little kiwi started to circuit the front of the enclosure really close to us. I was so pleased that at last they would be able to commit this experience to their memories. Not only had they heard kiwis but they had also seen one and this one wasn’t made of chocolate.
The showery weather cleared after lunch so we walked into Whangarei town from the marina for some shopping and then settled in The Dickens Inn for drinks before walking up to the Thai Chef Restaurant for a final supper together. We left the family to catch taxis back to camp and then the long wait for news of their safe landing back in the UK started.
The journey took 50 hours instead of 27 due to a combination of factors. They were unable to find out details of their flight as all the monitors in Dubai Airport had stopped working. Their flight did not leave Australia for some reason so their onward flight was cancelled. They spent 18 hours in the Dubai Premier Inn, which was no hardship as the temperature was 35’ and languishing in and beside the roof top swimming pool was a pleasure.
They finally arrived home around midday and Gary had to leave the house for the airport at 5.30pm the same day for his business flight to Hong Kong. When Emily asked Ruby what she remembered most about the whole trip she recalled her visit to the Smiggle Shop in Whangarei to spend her pocket money!