North Island

Waihi Beach is a coastal town in the Bay of Plenty in NZ's North Island. It lies 10 kilometres to the east of the town of Waihi, at the foot of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Whangamata is in the Bay of Pleanty - on the SE coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in NZ

NZ Highway 43, the Forgotten World Highway, runs 148km from Stratford in Taranaki to Taumarunui in the King Country.

The giant sand dunes dominate the seaward side of the Mangawhai harbour
and are also fronted on both sides by long stretches of beach.

The house is a well-preserved Roman site for public bathing.

Written by poet Isaiah Zerbst.

My weeping eyes behold the changing sky
O'erspread with clouds of grey where once was blue
With gaze upturned, I heave a burdened sigh
At all the world now changed to leaden hue
Yet still they onward, ever onward fly
And more appear to change the sky anew
And now, as troubled hearts their sorrows spill
These maudlin clouds the heavy rain distill

Mother / father Gannet looking down for the mate who is minding their egg, or hatched baby

Paragliding from North Head / Maungauika at Devonport, Auckland.

4.45pm, and it was still hot and sunny at my local beach

View to Whangaparaoa Peninsula,
north of Auckland, NZ

One of my favourite photos I took in 2010 as the Laser yachts were coming ashore after the Winter Champs

Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa)
The brilliant crimson flowers covering the tree, hence the nickname New Zealand Christmas Tree,
are beginning to open – at long last

Stunning sky last week as the sun was setting

The cement works were closed down in 1926, and they are a popular place to come with your cameras. You just have to climb over the fences!
And be careful where you walk!!

From the North Shore, NZ

Humpback Whales - BBC documentary excerpt – their singing starts at 2.15 minutes:

Long Bay is a busy seaside park, protecting the most northern of the East Coast Bays of Auckland
and lying adjacent to the Long Bay - Okura Marine Reserve.

The sun was setting in the west behind me
And as you can see here,
We often get gorgeous skies reflecting in the east

A wonderful place to visit

This will be my last posting for 2 months - I am off visiting UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg.
Will definitely be posting photos when I come back at the end of August.

This is the highest mountain in New Zealand, reaching 3,724 metres (12,218 ft).

The air currents keep him up there -
hopefully they won't stop suddenly

This photo looks more to the north.
Here you can see Little Barrier behind Tiritiri Island.
Then Whangaparaoa, and further north, with Bayswater and Takapuna on the North Shore in the foreground

Looking through blue-tinted windows:
Over the Waitemata Harbour to Devonport on the North Shore
to Rangitoto Island, with Coromandel in the far distance

This is the largest and most complex volcanic cone fortress in the southern hemisphere.

Optimists and kayaks waiting for the school kids to arrive
for their Watercare lessons

As the Optimist yachts come ashore after the racing
the parents are there to help stop the yachts running ashore in the shallows

Our family holidayed here on this 6 kilometre surf beach

And nothing was caught!!

When the tide is in,
all the rocks around the Tor are covered

The postman won't go down the road to the farms

It is an active but calm stratovolcano in Taranaki
on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.

The fisherman will win
The tide is too low to jump
Rakino Island in the BG

Photo taken from the cliff at Torbay
looking to the Pacific Ocean

Lake Pupuke is a freshwater lake occupying a volcanic explosion crater.
The lake was a volcano, exploding about 150,000 years ago.

Where I live I don't see the sun setting very often.
But when I saw this view on my way home I just had to stop

Another one of my local beaches

An Old America's Cup Yacht cruising

Always fun to walk along the wharf here

I'm enjoying our summer Down Under

From Murrays Bay

If you look at my last 3 photos you will see what the sky was like behind me.
This is facing east - perfect blue sky and no rain at all

We are looking north now -
but it was a hot day and the heat kept the rain away,
until 11.30 at night

Looking west here. The Auckland Harbour Bridge is behind Mt Victoria, the 2nd of Devonport's extinct (we hope) volcanoes.
It never actually rained on the North Shore until 11.30pm

Standing on North Head on the North Shore and overlooking Auckland City
And no, we didn't any rain at all

Had a wonderful day on Waiheke Island.
Here we are departing Matiatia Bay for Auckland City

A scene that seems to change daily

Looking north from Kennedy Plant

Kennedy Park is on a high cliff top. You can follow the wooden staircase all the way down the cliff-face to a little beach. That is Rangototo Island in the distance

The 1,020 m (3,348 ft) long bridge is an eight-lane box truss motorway bridge over the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland City with the North Shore.

Playing around with a filter or two to get this look

This beach is only a 10 minute walk from where I live

I always stop here to take photos when I pass this way.
You can see Whangarei Heads and Harbour,
and also a glimpse of the Oil Refinery at Marsden Point

In NZ these daisies sometimes flower in winter.
Brilliant, aren't they?

Good day for sailing and flying kites

The peninsula has many little bays where farmers have built their farm houses and farmed
This is now a sheep farm

Middle of Spring in NZ but these championships are still called the Winter Champs!!
Every year this yachting championship is held at the Murrays Bay sailing club for young members

Tawharanui Regional Park is set on a remote peninsula in the northern Hauraki Gulf, north of Auckland. It has beautiful white sand beaches, rolling pastures, shingled bays, native coastal forest and regenerating wetlands.

Photos taken earlier this year when I visited the Hobbiton Movie set in Matamata, New Zealand – I was so pleased I did too.

Closer look at the Hobbiton houses

Green Dragon Inn

As spring is arriving we've had a few stormy days lately.
I live close to a beach and love to take photos of the waves and wind
These Pohutukawa trees grow in the cliff and love hang out over the water. The salt water does them no harm

A big Welcome to you JANICE