My annual visit to Pauline and Northland seems a long time past. In fact it started two weeks ago tomorrow and ended the following Saturday. It's just over a week ago but it seems like a decade. Pauline has already posted on many of our visits one her blog The Paddock. Some of my photos will be of the same areas because I'm not only posting for my readers (many of whom read Pauline's blog too) but also for my blog in it's role as my diary.
Pampas Grass (imported) or Toetoe (indigenous) at the time I didn't know how to distinguish the two. It is supposed to grow to a maximum of 3m high. I would say that's at least 6m even allowing for the fact that Pauline's well below its base.
A beautiful area at the northern end of Waikato Bay
and again but taken from half way down the bay
Out in a 'tinnie' doing what Kiwi's do
Waikato Bay beach looking in a southerly direction
Tokerau Beach looking in a southerly direction across Doubtless Bay to Cable Bay and down to Mangonui probably about 16 k away as a theoretical crow would fly across the bay.
and looking back to Whatuwhiwhi (pron Fatufifi) where we had just spent the night
Tiny Parakerake Bay within Doubtless Bay at Whatuwhiwhi
Parakerake Bay at Whatuwhiwhi looking down over Doubtless Bay to Monganui
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Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous ~ aaaah!
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes Carol, if one likes secluded beaches this is as beautiful as any place I've ever seen: large and relatively remote but manageable on a human scale.
DeleteThat pampas grass is quite impressive! I have seen it gardens here, but of course never at that size - looks like you are "little people" like Mary Norton's Borrowers in that picture, compared to the grass.
ReplyDeleteThe bays and beaches are so beautfiul, and no people there to ruin it all! "Doubtless Bay", what a funny name.
I meant to comment on "as the crow flies" already on your last post but then forgot to say it. In German, the expression for "as the crow flies" is "Luftlinie", which literally means "air line", as in a straight line drawn across the air (or on a map).
I had some in the garden on Lewis Meike. I had to get a bulldozer in to get it all out eventually. It is supposed to have got its name from Captain James Cook who said, apparently, "Doubtless a bay" in 1769. I think your "Luftlinie" is so much better than "as the crow flies" because crows do not, apparently, fly in a straight line. If they are travelling a distance down a valley, for example, the are supposed to fly in a zig zag.
DeleteAll the beaches and bays are incredibly beautiful and so peaceful.....you're quite lucky to find such lovely beaches unpopulated.
ReplyDeleteLoved the Pampas grass photo.
I suspect that there are fewer people on the beaches (outside of those in the Auckland area) in New Zealand, Virginia, than on a single beach in Sydney!
DeleteWat is dat pampasgras groot geweldig maar de stranden daar raak je niet op uitgekeken,wat een geweldig mooi gebied,wat moeten jullie hebben genoten.
ReplyDeleteWij zijn zeer gelukkig Bas. Het weer is ook meestal goed!
DeleteMy thoughts about the first picture were similar to Meike's - that huge grass makes Pauline look like a little fairy :) To pick a second favourite out of these, I'd say the second photo, with the water looking so perfectly clear.
ReplyDeleteMonica I somehow can't think of Pauline as a fairy! She is rather too practical!
DeleteYou're doing many tours of some beautiful areas and we are getting the benefits from your excellent photos.
ReplyDeleteRed I've been very fortunate to travel in a beautiful land where distances are manageable. Thank you for the compliment.
DeleteYour photos are fab, GB. Georgia got very excited when she saw mine from Taipa Bay, wondered how we could have been there and not heard her and her classmates, we were very near their camp. Love your shots of the seat, really liked that place. I have no problem being compared to a fairy, put me near small children and I'm the first to believe in fairies and magic.
ReplyDeletePauline wouldn't she have been so surprised if we'd turned up at the gate so to speak. Yes children love you so much because you have such a wonderful sense of fun and imagination and can meet them on their level without being patronising: a great gift.
DeleteThese lovely pictures simply remind me that Shirley and I should have spent more time in NZ in 2012 - if only she hadn't had to return to Blighty for work. Marvellous.
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