Hiking Around Northland

We have enjoyed a lot of hiking recently. Rene, her son Riley, Phillip, and I did a hike 10 minutes from our house going from Urquate's Bay around to Smuggler's cove. You could see Ocean beach off in the distance. It tokk a few hours but was a beautiful hike to the beach.

Lynn and I got away for one night for a much needed to retreat together. It's only the second night together without the kids the whole year. We stayed at a lovely old bed and breakfast an hour south of town in a place called Mangawhai. We laughed because some white New Zealanders say the name like "Maine-ga-why" and the Maori word/way to say it is "Mon-ga-fie". We had a great time eating at a French cafe called The Kiwi and The Frog named after the married New Zealander and French Chef that own it. It was the best meal in New Zealand and the best cheese plate ever! After dinner we walked down the remote natural beach and saw the most amazing stars in a clear moonless night sky.The next day we set out for a 3 hour hike across the beach and up the Bream Head mountain cliffs then back on a loop across a very rocky mile of beach.

This is Lynn before we headed up to the top of the cliffs. The beach behind him is where we saw the amazing stars!

(Above) This is along the tops of the cliffs. The mountain off in the far distance is the Ocean Beach area we live next to.
The view looking back at the Mangawhai surf beach from the cliff tops (above). The trail went through a very lush tropical forest where Lynn took the pic of me (below).I had hiking shoes on but you should have seen Lynn's size 13 jandals (aka flip flops) along the beach rocks for the last hour or so.
There were amazing amounts of shells on some areas of the beach. You just walked for 100 feet of nothing but shells.

This parking lot at the trail head and surf beach is indicative of the outdoor lifestyle here. The kayaks, walkers, surfers, and bikers enjoying the vast great outdoors New Zealand affords.
Lynn often hikes the mountain behind our house (Mnt Aubrey) for exercise because in 30 minutes you can get a good stair climb heart pumping walk with a view at the top. Andrew and I went with him after dinner the other night and enjoyed a rest on the bench for a minute.

The sunset view at the top was worth the hike. The hospital sits about where the sun is setting.

Our time here is setting too and it is hard in ways to think of leaving the beauty here and the people we have come to know but we are excited to see our friends and family back home. Please leave comments to let me know you were here. It takes so very long to upload the photos and encourages me when folks scan over them.