10 Dec2024
Busy day for us. Packing and getting ready to return the rented surfboard to Mangawhai Heads (1.5hr drive) and we stopped in a lovely little beach town called Wapua Cove to have lunch, Colin had a fabulous looking fish tempura burger and I had the 'not so French toast'! Then we drove to the Auckland airport, where we arrived about 3hrs early to settle in and decompress. We are already looking forward to our next NZ trip!
9 December 2024
The forecast was wind and rain, so we decided to chill and do nothing on our last full day in the Baylys Bach (pronounced batch) which is Kiwi for beach house.
We took a great coastal hike along the bluffs and later we took some beach walks.
It was kind of a sad day because neither one of us wanted to leave this magical island, we had a nice dinner and quiet night.
8 Dec2024
Our first full day at Baylys beach! Colin was down the beach path by 6am to check out the surf and when he returned we both suited up to paddle out. But the fickle ocean had already changed and we were left staring at a mess of waves and currents too gnarly to paddle out into! :(
It was tough but we decided the risk wasn’t worth the mediocre/messy surf at that point. Because of our location which is fairly remote and the complete absence of other people, we decided not to paddle out. We were both disappointed but I was glad that Colin made the point. It was the right thing to do.
Instead, we headed out to see the Kauri forest and walk amongst these ancient, endangered, giant trees that only grow in NZ. We took the 1hr drive and headed out to the Waipoua Forest where we took the Kauri walk and we saw lots of ancient beautiful Kauri trees amongst them was the second largest, Father of the Forest, over 2000 yr old kauri.
Along the way we stopped at a gas station where I happened to notice a few awesome, classic motorbikes in the garage. An almost 100yr old BSA and an Indian!
7 Dec2024
Left Mangawhai Heads for Baylys beach. I was sad to leave the cottage as it felt like a real home in paradise! We headed straight to our first stop which was Whangarei. Colin found a Hundertwasser and Māori museum. I love Hundertwasser so I was really excited to see what he had done in New Zealand!
It was great and the museum design is similar to the design Hundertwasser used in the Vienna museum. Such a fun place to visit!
We moved on to Baylys beach and arrived at our last Airbnb for this trip. An old, beat up shabby beach shack! Very run down but somehow also very charming!
We got up early and Colin headed back out to Forestry to surf. It was closed out so he tried another spot around the point called Te Arai and had a pretty good surf! I stayed back at the cottage because I wanted some down time and I also needed to spend some time on this blog!
Later we headed into town, stopped at the Mangawhai skate park! Then we took a walk down at Mangawhai Heads beach and it was so windy we almost got windswept! We walked around the vast property of the cottage just before sunset! So beautiful!
10 Dec2024 Busy day for us. Packing and getting ready to return the rented surfboard to Mangawhai Heads (1.5hr drive) and we stopped in a ...
