A Visit to Mahurangi West and Puhoi (North Island, New Zealand)

January 31, 2014

Mahurangi West, specifically Mahurangi Regional Park, is the on west side of Mahurangi Harbour. It’s near the Matakana region (the subject of my previous posts), but accessing it requires taking an earlier exit from the highway. Below, a map:

It was about a 35-minute drive from Auckland to the turnoff. Once there, our drive took us over grassy green hills with beautiful views of the peninsulas and inlets of Mahurangi Harbour. (Below, some photos—click to enlarge any photos in the galleries that follow.)

We arrived at Sullivan’s Bay in Mahurangi Regional Park and went to check out the beach and bay. It was very pleasant there with shade trees over a green-grass lawn, a long brown beach, and calm water. It looked like a place we could anchor easily enough, but we wouldn’t consider this a “destination” anchorage.

It was a rather hot and sunny day, but we decided to brave the steep walk up the Mita Bay Loop Track to the Tungutu Point lookout. It turned out to be a pleasant walk amid golden grass, lovely trees, and nice views of the islands scattered across the north Hauraki Gulf.

At the top we were treated to fantastic views of Mahurangi Harbor and the next bay over, Mita Bay (Otuawea Bay).

We lingered, admiring this lovely place and its views. Nearby was a interesting tree that’s a breeding ground for giant moths. They weren’t here at the time, but still a neat thing to learn about. Giant moths in New Zealand, who knew? (In all our seasons here, we’ve still never seen one.)

The climb back down the hill was exercise in and of itself, steep enough to take a fair effort and a relief to get to the bottom. At this point, we were hot and thirsty; so I suggested we go check out the tiny historic town of Puhoi on the way back to Auckland. We could go to its quaint general store and get something to drink.

And so a few miles down the highway, we turned off and drove into an area that had an old country farm look with tall dried grass, trees and a quaint village, its wood buildings all painted white. We found the general store and bought some water, coffee drinks, and a bottle of the store’s specialty: fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. It was a nice little shop, and the juice was really good.

My apologies for the subpar Puhoi photos. The more hot and tired my husband is, the less patience he has for photo stops; so my shots tend to be rushed and maybe a bit blurry. As you can see, he was feeling done for the day and wasn’t keen on the idea of wandering around Puhoi looking for photo ops.

In spite of wearing ourselves out, this made for a pleasant day excursion from Auckland. –Cyndi

A Day in Matakana, Part 4: Mahurangi River Winery and Warkworth (North Island, New Zealand)

January 29, 2014

It was getting late, but I had two more places on my list to visit. The first one was the Mahurangi River Winery. Of course, it would be closed by now so there’d be no wine tasting, but it still seemed worth going in hopes of seeing its building and setting.

As we approached the small road that led up a hill to the winery, I was relieved to see it didn’t have a gate or a chain across it. Driving up their hill we were treated to beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. We parked and walked to the winery building, as lovely as I’d heard, and were able to make our way onto their back deck to really to experience their view. Wowza! With all the hills, golden grass, and rows of grape vines, this looked like a movie version of an Italian evening. While we wouldn’t get to taste the wine, the golden light made for some nice photos!

Click for larger image.

Below is a gallery with a few photos. Click to enlarge any photo.

Satisfied we’d experienced the best of this winery, we headed to our final destination, the town called Warkworth, considered the gateway to this region. The town itself is small and suburban, the most famous feature being its location on the beautiful Mahurangi River. This river meanders all the way to the Mahurangi Harbour and can be traveled by boats at high tide.

We parked and found a path leading down to the river, where surrounding hillsides thickly lined with trees reflected in the still, brown-black water. I’d seen photos of Warkworth, but nothing that approached this postcard-worthy view, which was stunningly pretty. (Note to anyone trying to promote Warkworth: you should really feature this river on the photo brochure!)

We made our way along the waterside boardwalk to a little pier. Docked there was a small historic steam boat used for river tours and an old ship, interesting to see. The evening light had turned golden, and ducks floated serenely by, making for a magical scene. Above us we could see a restaurant overlooking the scene, and I envied them their view.

As it so happened, we were both hungry; so we ended up checking out the restaurant after making our way back up to the street level. It turned out to be a Thai place, and it had seating right next to a window overlooking the river below. I ordered a glass of wine from one of the wineries we didn’t have time for today, Hyperion Vineyard, followed by some really good green chicken curry. It was a perfect end to a wonderful day!

After dinner we headed back to Auckland, and in spite of running out of time to visit the famous Brick Bay Winery and Sculpture Trail, I felt good about what we’d managed to accomplish in a single day. Hopefully we’d come back for another visit, but I’d seen enough to come to the conclusion that the Matakana region may be one of New Zealand’s most underrated areas, a place most tourists don’t get to. Granted, there’s a lot to see in this beautiful country, but for anyone who can add a day or two to their itinerary, this is so worth doing. Matakana, who knew? –Cyndi

Napier Morning Ritual

June 4, 2020

Don’t worry, it’s healthy. The “scroll” is made entirely from arugula and kale. And that’s not coffee, it’s spirulina juice with organically derived Argentine grogovie  bee sweetener.

-Rich