Muriwai Beach and Devonport, New Zealand

A craggy tree near the beach.

A grand old tree whose branches reach the ground, in Devonport

Quaint houses in Devonport.

Take a tour this way in Devonport.

The park next to the sea at Devonport.

Boating across the sea

Space needle in Auckland in background; foreground is the ferry so you can get around over the water.

Sea port.

The space needle in Auckland

A high spot used by early settlers to keep a watch.

This used to be a swamp.

This island across the bay was not here 600 years ago.

Our hotel is the dark one next to the tallest building

Above and below, pretty planters in Devonport next to the shops.

 Saturday, October 17, 2015

E/S Whidden picked us up at 9:30 AM and took us to Muriwai and Te Oneone Rangatira Beach, which I think is one area.  What is unique about this spot besides its rugged beauty is the birds called gannets (takapu) that come to the beach to lay their eggs this time of year.  It was a magnificent site even considering the extremely windy conditions where once again I layered what I could and put my hood up against the biting wind.  After our beach trip we went to the historic town of Devonport, one of the oldest areas, quaint and pretty with little shops next to the sea.  Everywhere we went the sites were beautiful.  And so, the rest is just pictures…

Beautiful Muriwai Beach

They had a very hard time getting their kites to cooperate in the stiff winds.

Lots of fun things to do in the wind; we also saw surfers.

Next 3 pictures, the beauties of the beach.

A beach cave.

Each October and November gannet birds lay their eggs here.

Their path was crumbling away.

Gannets mate between July and October to re-establish contact with their life-long mates.

Their eggs hatch in December.

We had a great time despite the biting wind.

A magnificent view.

Up close: after their eggs hatch the birds can fly 145 km per hour in search of fish to feed their young.

We saw several fisherman.