Whanga Week

It's been a pretty quiet week for us, reading, walking, painting...but just so you don't think that Whangamata never has bad weather, here are a couple of photos of Tuesday.



However, by late afternoon, the sky was changing, and we were treated to this incredible, full-arc rainbow over the ocean. I was almost tempted to dig in the sand for the legendary pot of gold!


A few hours later, a brilliant sunset (mostly blocked by houses from our view) marked the tail of the storm. For Star Trek fans: doesn't this make you think of the 'ribbon' that marked the entrance to The Nexus in the movie Generations?


Dawn this morning, our last full day at this location, was again marvelous. All we need now is an inspirational verse and we've got a poster!



As a last-day treat, at low tide today the ocean withdrew further back than we've seen it all this time, allowing us to walk right up to these huge rocks, which are usually 2/3 submerged, quite far offshore (as you can see by the black high water marks).


The sand patterns of the exposed seafloor were also really cool.



Tomorrow, back to Hamilton for the weekend (Frank's got a motorcycle event to see!) and then, on Sunday, off north to Mangawhai Heads, our location for April.

Here are the flowers and shells we'll leave behind.

The Wonder of Wattie

I know, I know, you are sick of sunrise photos--but these come with a story. You may have heard that Cyclone Wattie is headed for New Zealand from Australia (or maybe that's not big news where you are). Don't panic, all we're going to get here is strong winds and heavy rain--no floods or tsunamis or anything dire. And some of you are probably grumbling "It's about time they had some bad weather--lucky ducks down there on the warm beach while we're freezing up here!"

Anyway...I had been up for several hours in the middle of the night, maybe awakened by the rising wind and, incidentally, completing some of my best pastel paintings to date (funny what inspires!), so I was planning to skip my sunrise vigil today. Frank, however, happened to wake at 5:30 a.m. and quietly nudged me: "Pretty spectacular sky out there." So I sat up and took this photo from the bed (yes, I do sleep with my camera beside me!)...and then decided that I'd better get up after all and brave the storm--it really WAS going to be spectacular.


The wind (though quite warm) was so strong that it was tough to even keep the camera still long enough to snap the shutter (which is why the first pic is a bit blurred)! However, the next ten minutes were incredible--I swear I haven't touched these photos--that's just what it looked like.







By the time the sun was actually topping the horizon, the clouds had thickened, so it all faded away to blue and grey, and I turned to come back inside. And what was Frank doing all this time, having pushed me out into the gale? See for yourself...


(Ok, the truth is he had already brought a cup of hot tea out to sustain me...what a good husband!)

Rock & Roll

Our first sight of the ocean today set one of the themes for the day--BIG waves rolling in and crashing mightily on the beach, with a cool backwash effect from the offshore wind.



Quickly packing a lunch, we again headed north up the Coromandel Penninsula, stopping first at Tairua, where we enjoyed some unusual boats--neither very seaworthy at present!--and a lovely coastal walk, where we met some fellow Canadians (from B.C.).


Further north we went out to Hahei, and were struck by how pink the sand is there. I've never been to Bermuda, but maybe it looks like this there. It's a beautiful beach, with unusual sandstone rocks along the shore--and rocks became our second theme. The overhanging trees are pohutakawa, which have a deep red bloom in December, and so are called the New Zealand Christmas tree.


This may look like a benign swimming scene, but in reality it was quite a traumatic wake-up call for everyone concerned. Although I did not realize it when I snapped the photo, these folks were anxiously searching the breakers for an elderly man who had just been knocked down and rolled by the riptide. Seconds later a courageous young man with a surfboard leaped off the low cliff above the beach and ran in to help. Luckily, they got the gentlemen out of the surf and helped him up the beach, obviously badly shaken, but okay. Gorgeous beach--but don't take Mother Nature for granted!


Just a bit further north, we stopped at Cathedral Cove, seen here from the carpark overlook. The walk out to the cove takes an hour, return, and is quite steep--and we chickened out, choosing instead to walk down to the closer Gemstone Cove, named obviously for these wonderfully coloured rocks. Maybe another day we'll feel more energetic!




Our final beach stop, working our way back southwards, was Hot Water Beach where, for several hours either side of low tide, you can dig a pit in the sand and enjoy a soak in the naturally hot water rising from underground volcanic springs--this country provides every amenity for free! Our timing was wrong to enjoy this effect (though the day was too warm to really want to sit in hot water anyway--sorry, my freezing Canadian readers!). Instead we watched more huge waves, this time successfully negotiated by skilled surfers, and marveled at the cool rock formations. Frank was feeling really on top of things by now! ;)




On the drive back down to Whangamata, I was more aware of the beautiful colours of the roadside rocks and soils, ranging from ivory through every shade of pink, peach, coral, red, and rust you can imagine. These last shots were snapped from the moving car--not bad, eh? The second one can maybe be used as abstract art!

Windsday

This morning's sunrise promised an interesting day, and rainstorms were forecast for later in the day, so we headed off fairly early in the morning to visit the beach at Opoutere, about 10k north. As we headed east from the main road, we came across this logging operation--interesting to watch. NZ logging these days is almost exclusively of exotic, plantation planted radiata pine. The long growing season means that the trees grow quickly and harvesting happens in fewer years than in colder climates.




The beach at Opoutere is special in that it is in two sections: inland is the Wharekawa Wildlife Refuge, a sheltered estuarine mudflat (with crystal-clear waters, nevertheless) that is home to many shorebirds, including the endangered N.Z. dotterel, and beyond that, the ocean. The black feathered, orange-billed shore birds from yesterday, I learned from the Department of Conservation info board here, are Oystercatchers, and we saw many more here. Along the shore of the estuary are many of these wind-tortured pines. Looks like a good place to hide from Black Riders to me!



A walk over a bridge and through a lovely forest brings you to the beach.



Frank had gotten ahead of me as I stopped to take numerous photos, so when I topped the last dune, I found him already enjoying the gorgeous view. This spot is typically New Zealand--5k of pristine white sand beach, protected by coastal zoning limits (so no buildings) and, despite today's perfect conditions, deserted--we saw 4 other people the whole time we were there. We love this country!



On the way back, we decided to venture up to Topadahil Studios, one of the homes of Guity and David Evelyn--the other being in Nice, France, where Guity was raised. Guity's luminous paintings and David's sculptures and jewellery accent a unique home and garden, and their warmth and genuine welcome made the whole experience a delight. Although Guity's originals sell for thousands, I was lucky that her prints were on sale at 1/2 price now at the end of summer, and (after much agonizing) I chose these two beautiful gems. This photo doesn't capture the depth and richness of the blues and greens, nor the glow of the gold powder, which make the seemingly simple designs endlessly fascinating. We really enjoyed our visit here, including their spectacular view over the estuary from the 'top-a-da-hill'!






When we returned to Whangamata, Frank got into his painting, but I was attracted to the unusual effect of an approaching rainstorm. The photos below document its ominous approach, but you can see that I sat on the bench in sunshine until the very last minute. Strangely, although it got very dark and the sea breeze became a gale, and there was enough moisture in the air to generate a pale rainbow--it never did rain! What a luxury, though, to have the time and leisure to simply sit and watch it all happen. Not a very eventful day--but so enjoyable.