Mahurangi West and Auckland wharf

 Mahurangi West is a Regional Park, similar to our state parks only not as developed, about thirty miles north of where we are staying. This is a gorgeous area and not many people around because it is not real convenient. This first picture is of the native Kauri tree that has a massive circumference around the base of the trunk.

The following pictures are from Shakespear Regional Park about 20 minutes away.

We even shared our hike with some sheep.

We went to the wharf in downtown Auckland just to see how much it has changed. The first picture is standing on the wharf and looking at the marina with the harbor bridge in the background. Lots of high dollar boats here.

We went back to Maungauik/North Head Historic Reserve, across the harbor from Auckland, to have a picnic lunch of the usual fare, PBJ.

Another place that we found interesting was the town of Waiwera.  It had a small beach, but something more interesting was the very small church, tucked away in between two houses.

Then we walked the full length of Takapuna beach and on around the rocks to Milford Beach, a total distance of 4-5 miles.

The black rocks you see in the foreground are lava rocks that came from the volcano that formed Rangitoto Island a few hundred years ago.

Here is the entrance to Orewa Beach from the town center. It's probably fair to say Orewa is our favorite beach.

A couple other things worth noting:

• when we have apples at home in the USA, I cannot eat them without first peeling them, even after washing them by the recommendation of the USDA, because the pesticides used, even on organic apples, make my mouth, lips, and tongue numb. But, here in New Zealand, I can enjoy an apple without any side effects.
• when we lived here 30+ years ago, there were two TV stations, TV1 and TV2. They even worked together to keep the listening audience informed. For example, if you were watching TV1 and 10pm rolled around, they would come on the air and say "well, it's 10pm and time for us to sign off, but if you still want to stay up to watch, switch over to TV2 and they will still be on the air for another hour." So now with satellite tv, there are many more choices. However, as the market grew, motels saw an opportunity to get the edge.  This next picture, and you may have to zoom in, shows this and reminds me of the days when motels advertised "color TV".