Bay of Plenty & Firth of Thames

 Backyard of the Miranda bird sanctuary field station where we stayed.

 Bird sanctuary in the Firth of Thames. There are so many different types of shorebirds in NZ- significantly more than forest birds.

 Karangaheke gorge

 Waihi beach. It was so calm and warm- for moment you might think it was a tropical island. (In the summer- yes- but not quite in the winter)

 View from the top of Mount Manganui (the 200 m high hill that the town is named after). The beach there is gorgeous!

Kelly & I  at the top of Mount Manganui

 Waterfall near Lake Tarawera

 The cute bach we stayed in at Ohiwa

Chantal & I at Ohiwa beach

For the long weekend (Queen's birthday) I went to the North Island to visit a friend who is living there at the moment (in Mount Manganui). We picked the right place to be and had fantastic weather. I forgot how much warmer the North island is than the south- especially at night. We travelled from the Auckland airport to the Miranda bird sanctuary at the Firth of Thames, then to Mount Manganui, and then to Ohiwa beach- going on some lovely 1-2 hour walks at some beautiful places along the way.

Hagley

It was a calm and sunny autumn weekend and we went for a couple walks- one around Hagley park. Even when nothing is in bloom, it's still beautiful!

Edwards Hut

This was a beautiful walk along the Edwards river to a really nice hut. The scenery along the way was really varied- river bed with rivers crossings, and different types of native forest. There was no one else out on the track and we had the whole hut to ourselves. The weather wasn't supposed to be that great but it turned out to be excellent. We even heard Kiwis at night!

Godley Head to Taylor's

 Taylor's Mistake Beach

 It was a sunny autumn Sunday so we decided to go for a walk along one of the walking trails on the east side of Christchurch (about a 25 minute drive from our house).There are loads of trails there, and a secluded little beach with quaint, old  little baches (cottages) on one side and giant modern houses on the other. There are several old military bunkers along the trails that were built to protect Christchurch during WWII.

Queen Charlotte Track

Over Easter weekend I went hiking with a friend in the Queen Charlotte Sound. It really reminds me of the geography near Vancouver island. Very beautiful! The track itself is quite touristy- you can have your luggage dropped off for you by boat from point to point so that all you have to carry is a day pack- and you can stay at a range off accommodation types- from camping for $6 to five star resorts for $600!

 Picton Harbour 

Lots of sail boats and recreational vessels!

 Native bush and typical view into the sound along the track

Middle Matakitaki

This is one of the many beautiful rivers near Murchison!

Sea Kayaking in Sumner

The old school house where we stopped for lunch

Today I went sea kayaking with the whitewater canoe club. We started at Sumner beach and went to the entrance of the Lyttleton harbour. The club doesn't normally do sea kayaking trips- this was the first. The swell was pretty large going out (2 m rolling waves) but it got much smaller a few hours later on the way back. I forgot how much more effort it is than whitewater kayaking!