Exploring the bays around Whangarei

We left Bob and Jean this am. They had to head into town to get some new tyres, and Bruce wanted to show me Pataua South, and the footbridge across to Pataua North.

The drive out past Parua Bay was quite leisurely as the road was pretty windy. The farmland out here looked beautiful with rolling hills and the greenest of grass, but I imagine in the summer it will be quite different.

Pataua South was at the end of the road and was a quaint little settlement on the banks of an estuary. Many timber groynes had been built there but it was hard to say whether or not they had been successful. There was lots of sand though and evidence of shellfish beds.

A group of gulls (both red billed and black backed) were having a squabble over what looked like a small sea snake, that was still very much alive. A blue heron was hovering very close by in case there was a chance that he could nab it as well.

We went for a walk across the foot bridge, and along a bit until we found the access to the ocean beach at Pataua North.

The beach was deserted – a wide expanse of soft, but coarse sand. At the mouth of the estuary was a rocky point and just beyond it we could see a tall ship at anchor. We couldn’t tell what bay it was off, or how you might get closer to it so we had to be content with distant views.

We walked around the point on the beach itself, rather than the walkway, and although a pleasant walk it was hard going at times with the soft sand and some cold wind gusts. We had a quick lunch in the van before we headed off again and this time took a side road to Mc Gregors Bay. The road there was sealed all the way, but again, a bit narrow and windy.

McGregors Bay was a charming spot, but there was evidence here of cyclone damage / erosion.

It looked to be a very exclusive little settlement though, and some of the houses here were pretty big and expensive looking. There were rocks at the end of the beach which we were informed were supposed to have rock pools, but we couldn’t find much here, and the rocks were also pretty slippery.

We headed back to Whangarei and had a quick look at my Dad’s old place in Onerahi. It was disappointing to see how unkempt it was looking, We still had a bit of time on our hands before we were due back in Waipu, so we headed to Whangarei Falls.

Both of us had been there before, but many years ago. It has obviously had a revamp since then, with extensive, manicured lawns and gardens; a flash toilet block; and various paths and lookouts over the falls.

All in all we had a lovely day and ended it with a drive to Waipu, where Bruce’s sister Kay lives. We were joined there also by Bruce’s other sister Jan, so it was a lovely family meal that night – thanks Kay and Richard!