Ngataki Beach: The Finds

We walked along Ngataki Beach which, on the face of it was quite and ordinary beach by New Zealand standards.  However we made some discoveries I don't think either of us had seen elsewhere before:

The first was Holloway's Crystalwort, a small summer-growing annual plant unique (I think) to NZ which grows near the high tide on sandy beaches.  It used to grow on beaches all down the East coast of the North Island but is now only found on the remotest beaches in the Far North.  The tiny glistening lumps on the leaves make the plant appear as though it's been dusted with sugar - hence its name.  Crystalwort is one of a small number of native plants which grows at high tide forward of the dunes.  I may not be big or spectacular but it is a plant which makes NZ special and it's one more species heading for distinction.  It also provides food for a range of native insects.

Then we came across Goose Barnacles.  Not that I had a clue what they were never having seen one before.   Katherine came to our rescue.  She could not recall having seen one but remembered it from her school science book (a feat in itself in my eyes).

Lastly came a Porcupine Fish or Blowfish (because they intake water and blow themselves into twice their size or more just as if those spines were not enough to deter predators!)

I can't decide whether it looks surprised at being stranded or whether it's trying to tell me something.  (It was, of course, well past either of those things!).

Ngataki Beach

I know that before long you are going to be absolutely fed up of seeing beaches on this blog if I'm not careful so today's sets the scene for some detailed shots in the next few days.  Actually as readership of blogs seems to fall off a bit at weekends that might be a good time to post about plants and things.

Ngataki Beach is on the Eastern side of the 'top bit' of the country and, as we discovered, is on the tourist trail for the coaches on the way up to Cape Reinga.  We arrived to a deserted beach and were discovering all sorts of interesting things when a 4x4 zoomed off to the far end of the beach with locals off for some beachcasting.

The amount of seaweeds indicated some recent heavy seas

These weird trails in the sand puzzled us (ignore the 4x4 tracks!)

A less usual seaweed

People!?

Two adventure coach loads! Fortunately we'd seen what we wanted to see.

Thankful Thursday

I woke early this morning (0543 to be precise) after a nightmare featuring a book I read nearly 20 years ago entitled An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan.  Once I started it I could not put it down.  It remains the most disturbing book I have read*.  For those who don't know, Brian Keenan was kidnapped in Beirut in the Lebanon in 1986 and kept hostage in terrible conditions for 4½ years.

When I woke I was aware of the sound of rain on the roof over the deck of The Cottage: a medium, persistent rain - Good Rain.  By that I mean the sort of rain that starts to soak the ground without being so heavy that it all flows off the hard-baked earth on which it falls without penetrating the surface.  The sort of rain where one can almost see the grass growing once again.

I lay for a short while thinking how Brain Keenan and other hostages kept in similar circumstances (he was blindfolded much of the time and often manacled too) must have felt.  

Nearly two hours later I'm still sitting drinking hot water and lemon and as daylight begins to penetrate the cloud (how fast the days are drawing in) and feeling so very very thankful for the warm rain which the earth here needs so much and for the freedom that I have (had I the courage) to go and dance naked in it**.  

 * A possible exception being William Golding's Lord of the Flies.  The difference being that An Evil Cradling was not fiction.

** A reference, for those who may not know nor remember, to a note I used to have on my kitchen wallboard in Eagleton "Happiness is dancing naked in the warm rain"

Landing the Catches

Just a few kilometres from the bach where we were staying was the little settlement of Pukenui where there is a jetty and a small harbour.  One afternoon we arrived in time to see several boats unloading their catches: a fishing boat and a mussel harvester.

Ninety Mile Beach

It is not possible to live in the North Island of New Zealand without wanting to see and perhaps drive (it is a public road officially) the Ninety Mile Beach which is actually 103km (64 miles) long and runs from Ahipara in the South almost to the top of the North Island on the West Coast.

The reason it has its name is because horses travelled thirty miles a day and it took three days to walk the beach. What had been overlooked was that horses walked more slowly on sand than on land.

I have seen long beaches.  I have seen big beaches. I have seen beautiful beaches. Some of those were more beautiful in my eyes.  Nothing however prepared me for the sheer awesomeness of the Ninety Mile Beach. 

Here's a few reasons why

Panorama looking West from top of pa at Hukatere

Looking South from Hukatere

Looking North from Hukatere

Out to sea

Looking North: the narrowness of the Island can be seen (ownership of photo unknown - readily available on the Internet)

Hide and Seek

Outside the bach in which we stayed in Houhora was a small Phoenix Palm.  Each evening (quite late, hence the poor quality of the photos) one man and his dog played hide and seek around it.

The First Stop, Kawakawa

Kawakawa is famous because of its toilets:  the Hundertwasser Toilets about which I blogged on The Great Adventure in 2010.   To be honest, apart from its location on State Highway 1 and with some decent cafés and the said toilets, Kawakawa has little to offer except, and it's a big except, for the fact that it has a railway running down the middle of the main street and into a sidings with a rather well maintained station and a steam locomotive which should appeal to Mark and Adrian.

A real live steam loco built by Peckett and Sons Ltd of Bristol in 1925 and numbered 1730.  It's a 4-4-0T 3ft 6 in loco run by the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway.  The engine is one of five similar 4-4-0T engines and was originally one of two which went to the Schull and Skibbereen Railway, Ireland, named "Allen" and "Gabriel" (after Mount Gabriel).  Regauged in 1926 to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) and sold to Portland Cement, Whangarei, New Zealand.  It was given to Bay of Islands Scenic Railway in 1985.  If those dates are correct I'm not sure why the nameplate on the locomotive bears the date 1927.

Keeping Up

Tuesday

Not only am I away in Northland but the cottage in which we are staying in Houhora has no cellphone signal and therefore, for me, no Internet - it is truly cut off. I am writing this on Tuesday evening in the hope that I will be able to post it when I get a cellphone signal in the morning.

I flew from Napier at 0800 this morning and arrived in Whangarei at 1115 and since then we have driven up the East coast via stops in Kawakawa and Taopa until we arrived just before 1800 hrs at almost the last rentable accommodation before the Northern tip of New Zealand.

Houhora appears to be about as and peaceful a place as one could wish for for a holiday break.

Wednesday

No success in posting today. We went over to the West coast (about 10 ks at this part of New Zealand) and I actually walked on the legendary Ninety Mile Beach. 

I'll be posting on the experiences of the day after I have got back home to The Cottage but that won't be until late on Saturday night. 

Thursday

No luck. No signal.

Friday

Arrived this evening at Pauline's and have a phone signal which enables me to communicate with the Internet and with you my friends. I am here in the Outer Waiotira. We've had a brilliant few days exploring.

Tomorrow night I shall be back home and on Sunday I shall be back on line with lots and lots of things to post about.

Still Here

I woke this morning around 0500 after a horrible nightmare.  I walked around for a bit and then went back to bed only to have an even worse nightmare.  The odd thing is that I can't remember a single thing about the earlier one but I managed to reduce the later one to words and I can recall it even now.  Instead of getting up at 0600 as I would usually have done once I was properly awake I lay for a while thinking about all the emails and blog posts (I've lots planned) and readings and so on I was going to do today having been involved in a tournament and up to 10 hours play a day for the last week or more.

For reasons I won't bore you with I wasn't able to do any of those things and so late this evening I am writing this before a relatively early night and an early start in the morning.  I am off to Northland and my annual pilgrimage with Pauline. I will not be taking my laptop just my iPad and iPhone so there may not be any posts until next week after I get back.

I will leave you with a few photos from the tournament.  They are strange folk these croquet people.

A Journey to Cape Kidnappers

Having lived near Napier for every summer since 2005 I am ashamed to think of the number of local attractions to which I have not been [Thanks Winston to those of a grammatical bent].  One such attraction is the gannet colonies at Cape Kidnappers.  I remedied this omission last Thursday with a trip with Gannet Beach Adventures.  The company operates tractor pulled trailers along the shore from Clifton the 7 or so kilometres along to the end of the Cape from whence one can walk the further kilometer or two up to the headland and the principal gannet colony.  There is lots to see and lots to learn about the birdlife and the stunning and important geology of the area from the knowledgeable driver/guides who also provided lots of fun for the young and old alike.

Cape Kidnappers was so named after an attempt by local Māori to abduct the servant of a member of Captain Cook's crew aboard HMS Endeavour, during a landfall there on 15 October 1769.  The crew member was Tiata, a Tahitian accompanying Cook's interpreter Tupaia. Cook's journal states that Tiata was in the water near Endeavour when a Māori fishing boat pulled alongside and dragged him aboard. Sailors from Endeavour′s deck immediately opened fire on the fishing boat, killing two Māori and wounding a third. Tiata promptly jumped overboard and swam back to Endeavour, while the remaining Māori paddled their craft back to shore. A 4-pounder cannon was fired after them from Endeavour′s quarterdeck, but the Māori boat was soon out of range.  Cook described the cape as having steep white cliffs on either side, with two large rocks resembling hay stacks near the headland.

I have been trying to imagine what the UK's Health and Safety people would say.

We are off along the coastline - the journey has to be timed to take account of the tides

We all set off.  Adrain would hate this but, in reality, everyone dispersed very quickly

The Cape's tip with the Ranger's House in its isolated splendour

The path to the Cape head and the gannet colony

The last leg

Looking back from near the top the tractors are on the beach furthest away from where I am taking this photo

The Colony

The return journey starts here

Looking at the Cape from the end of the walk

That's all for this post.  There's still the gannet pictures and the geology to come.  Soon.