Whangarei Heads

We arrived in Whangarei mid afternoon on Monday, and after giving the dogs a good walk we headed up to the hospital to see Judy’s dad. He was really pleased to see us, but  it was sad seeing him so incapacitated. Age is cruel really. We stayed to help him with his dinner, and then back into bed, before saying our good nights and promising to see him at “sparrow’s fart” the next morning when the doctors were due around. Our preferred park at the town basin was not available to we stayed over night at the RSA and it was a quiet night. It turned out that Bruce went to Intermediate school just across the road.

The next morning we were at the hospital by 7am and wouldn’t you know it, the doctors did not turn up until 8.45am. However, we got some questions answered and helped dad with a shave after breakfast, and then we headed away to give the dogs a good walk and to have some breakfast ourselves. Dad was transferred to the rehab ward today and we made a couple of trips in to see him, allowing him time to rest in between times.

We then headed out to Judy’s step sister Andrea’s place for the night but the poor old motorhome could not make it up the steep slope onto the lawn area they had planned for us to stay on. The smell of hot clutch plates was revolting, so we parked up on the neighbours property and had a coffee with Andrea and Rowan while they cooled down. Then it was off to the RSA again for another quiet night.

We decided that as we had spent a long day travelling on Monday, and most of the day at the hospital on Tuesday, both the dogs and ourselves needed a days rest, so we headed off to explore the Whangarei Heads. Bruce is somewhat familiar with this area as he spent time here as a boy, staying at his grandparent’s  place at MacGregor Bay. (We will come to that shortly).

First stop was to Parua Bay, where we had booked a spot for the night at the Cruising Club. We wanted to have a quick look on the way out though, and were completely charmed with the place.

We gave Oscar and Hunter a swim from the boat ramp, but this was disturbed by a couple of guys launching a refurbished old steam powered clinker. It was immaculate and a real sight to behold. We would have like to have seen it power away but apparently it takes about an hour to get it fired up enough to run.

 

The boiler was first of all fired up with kerosene, and the smell of that pervaded the air around. They had a small basket of wood next to the boiler and I guess that was for when the fire was really going well.

Next stop was Mc Cleods Bay. It was also beautiful but the shore was a bit stony and it didn’t look all that pleasant underfoot, so we had a look around and elected to save our swim for somewhere more suitable.

There seemed to be plenty of oysters growing on the rocks and it was definitely the preferred beach for hundreds of Oyster Catchers. We did not dare let Hunter out of the truck because chasing Oyster Catchers is a favourite past time of his.

Next stop was Mc Gregors Bay, the previous home of Bruce’s grandparents. The beach was beautiful and sandy, although there was not a lot of room to park up so we had to go up the road and turn around.

The dogs had a quick swim but were not all that keen so they went back into the motor home and Bruce and I had a lovely swim.

 

We had our lunch here and a bit of a rest before going past MacKenzie Bay, and on to Urquarts Bay. This is also a lovely beach but the back drop is completely different with views of the port and the oil refinery just over the water. Access is through a little road that is single lane in places and turning around was a bit of a challenge.

In the distance the distinctive rock formations on Mt Manaia can be seen and there are apparently walking tracks up to the summit (1700 stairs we are told, so it makes East Cape Light House look pretty tame). We felt too lazy to tackle them.

The final stop before heading back to camp was to Ocean Beach, a bit further down the road. There was a bit of a walking track to the beach over soft, very hot sand, but the beach was lovely and quite popular. It is not a particularly long beach, so we walked the length of it. The surf looked well behaved – no rips or anything evident, so overall, very pleasant.

We headed back to Parua Bay and set up camp for the night. Bruce could not resist the water so headed off for a big long swim. He hadn’t been back long when the place was invaded by teenagers coming for their sailing class. They all worked together very efficiently to get the boats ready and off they went. Once they came back, they again worked together to clean everything down and pack it away. What a great activity for kids.

Dinner was eaten looking out over the bay. Magic.