Escaping Auckland to the Bay of Plenty

It’s official.  I’ve been back here a month, and I’ve finally, FINALLY managed to drag myself out of Auckland.  Nothing against Auckland – it’s a fine city.  I just never meant to stay there quite so long. 

And it’s not that I didn’t enjoy my time in Auckland either.  Quite the opposite: it was delightful.  I ended up having a gay old time at Fruit Vans thanks to some excellent people and the unexpected joys of communal living and cultural swapping.




Some of the excellent folk at Fruit Vans.

 

Fourteen of us piled into two vans to go have a picnic on the beach one night.

Leaving was bittersweet.

But leave I have.  I’m currently in beachy Mount Manganui in the Bay of Plenty.  You know how many countries have an area known as their Breadbasket?  Well, I think it’s safe to say that the Bay of Plenty is New Zealand’s fruit basket.  There’s beaucoup de fruits here. Seems I can’t escape fruit – I even stopped at a roadside fruitstand to buy plums on my way here. 

The reason I find myself here is that I am starting another WOOFing gig at a macadamia nut farm nearby on Wednesday, and with the forecast calling for sun and heat Monday and Tuesday, I was loath to stay in the city.  Instead I took Gandalf the White (which is what I've named my car in the hopes that, like the wizard for whom it is named, it will have a long life and will perform amazing feats in stunning locations) out on the open road for the first time.  Three hours later, I was on the east coast of the North Island enjoying the beach.  Ahhhhhhh.

And that's basically what I've been doing for the past two days -- lounging on the beach, reading magazines and books, and going for short hikes around or up Mount Manganui. 

As an added bonus, I was alone in my dorm room the past few nights.  The bliss!

On to some photos!

On Sunday I went to Shakespear Regional Park (which is a 30-40 minute drive from downtown Auckland) with Julia (the girl from my trip up North a few weeks ago) and another of her friends.  There was a cool dead tree on the beach that I decided to climb. 

A pukeko -- one of my favourite NZ birds. I saw a lot of these guys on my first trip here in 2004 and went six weeks without seeing one back in 2009.  On Sunday, there must have been 200 at Shakespear Regional Park.

The beach at Army Bay in Shakespear Regional Park.

You can't really see it in this photo, but you could see Auckland Harbour from here.  It was quite pretty.

A wee waterfall in the park.  What you can't tell from this teeny tiny photo is that I'm holding up a gas mask that was unexplicably lying on the ground next the falls.

Shadow play! That's me on the left.

My drive down to Mount Manganui brought me through Paeroa -- a town known almost exclusively as the birthplace of New Zealand's soft drink Lemon and Paeroa.  It's the nectar of the gods. I was going to buy a bottle there, but it was nearly $3, so I bought some Schwepps instead (it was on sale).  

One of the many awesome public toilets conveniently found around the country.  This one next to the big bottle in Paeroa was particularly great as it had a recording that greeted you as you opened the door, and played music for you while you did your business.

The view from the summit of Mount Manganui.

Shells on the beach at Mount Manganui.

Me on the top of Mount Manganui.  Luckily, you can't see how sweaty I am -- damn humidity.