Our last posting of New Zealand

 Well, we knew it would come sometime and that time is now here. But before we pack up to go to the airport tomorrow, there are a few more beaches to explore. These first two pictures are of Hatfield Beach which was about one fourth smooth rock and the rest is sand. 

This next picture of Hatfield Beach shows how wide the beach actually is at low tide, and this was taken before noon. After roughly stepping it off, the beach was about 60-70 yards wide and just short of a mile long. The interesting part is, if you zoom in, you may be able to see one other person on the beach the same time as us.

When we lived here 37 years ago, the statistic we were told was that one in seven people had a boat and the preferred boat was a sailboat. Taking this next picture from the deck of the house where we are staying, shows several people out in small sailboats.

So for our own sake, I am listing the beaches on which we walked, with the first three being our favorites:

• Orwea
• Hatfield
• Long beach
• Big Manly
• Little Manly
• Waiwera
• Sharespeare
• Takapuna
• Devonport
• Milford
• Army bay
• Red beach

We just walked on Red Beach today and it was very crowded, about 6 other people were there. 😃

There is so much to like about New Zealand and one thing that stands out is how serious they take social responsibility with regards to very little littering, conservation, and recycling.  There is a chain of stores here called Mitre 10 that are similar to a combination of Home Depot and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They have a place inside the store where you can dispose of used and blown out light bulbs of all types.

Well, this pretty much raps it up for us here in New Zealand. My departing picture is the view today from our deck.

Thanks for traveling with us!