April 11, 2013
One thing we were glad to notice was that the warm weather returned. New Zealand is fairly far south; so when the first cold day of the fall season appeared, we wondered: Is it going to be cold from this point on? Do we need to dig out the jeans and sweaters? Apparently not as we were suddenly back in shorts and T shirt weather. We’d make sure to appreciate this while it lasted–the day would come when it would get cold and stay cold. New Zealand is not known for its warm winters.
We headed ashore for a hike, sticking to the trails and small dirt road. Much of this island is devoted to pasture for sheep and cattle, and a lot of areas are fenced off (which is always a good thing when you spot a bull). There’s some forest towards the south end of the island, plus Mohi Mountain with a feature that looks a bit like Yosemite’s Half Dome. We decided to head to the east side of the island, then up towards the north end.
We started by visiting the bay south of ours, White Beach. Wow, it’s aptly named. It’s a beautiful spot with a long stretch of sandy beach. We then headed to the east side and spotted a magnificent grove of very old and large pohutukawa trees. As we kept waking we started to see scattered boulders sticking up amid the grass. Some areas where thick with them, giving it a Middle Earth look. We kept walking until we could see the bay north of ours, a deep inlet called Huruhi. Along we way we saw occasional sheep and cows, plus lots of pukekos and Australian Magpies (which look like big black crows splotched with white paint).
Like some of the Hauraki Gulf islands we’d visited, this place had a very quiet, peaceful feeling. It was warm and dry and probably sees a lot of sunny weather. Like the Bay of Islands, there were bays with turquoise water and white crescent sand beaches shaded by pohutukawa trees. And like other islands in New Zealand, this island had its own unique combination of features. (New Zealand’s definitely not a place where you can see one island and figure you’ve seen them all).
We made our way back to our beach and headed back to the boat, feeling very grateful for this last stretch of calm weather that allowed us to stop here. We both felt already that this was one of our favorite places, and we still had one more bay to visit.–Cyndi (as always, click to enlarge and scroll through the gallery above).
