When an Aucklander says "West Coast beaches" we don't think they particularly mean Huia and Whatipu which are further south along the west coast only about 45 minutes from the city. But for us, they are on the west coast and they fit very well with this series of posts. We don't have any pictures of Huia because when we arrived it was low tide and not quite so nice. The fish and chips, which is what we really stopped for, was pretty good. We're not recommending the drive for either though. However, to get to Whatipu (pronounced "Fah-tea-poo"), you have to travel through Huia and down a 7km gravel road. Good thing we had a rental!
What we saw at the end of the road was just amazing. First there was the huge cave that we walked through muck and mud to reach. In the early 20th century (or maybe 19th-definitely before cars) dances with hundreds of people were held in a beachside cave. We are told that the dance floor still exists three meters below the sand.
And there are also creative ways to hike:
Now to the main event. After hiking beside the cliffs, and again through the muck, we returned to the carpark to head to the beach. It was one of our favorite places to date. We walked through the sand dunes and bush and it opened up into a wide expanse of an amazing beach. It is so difficult to believe that this is less than an hour from downtown Auckland. The large rock is called Paritutu, but the scale is hard to show in photos.
A tram used to run from the southern part of Auckland, a place called Onehunga, to take kauri wood from the area into the city.
Those are the kids on the right in their own humungous sandbox...
This a picture of one of the more dangerous aspects of the coast, a blue jellyfish.
After the beach, we took a quick trip to see another perspective. Here we were able to see the Waitakere Ranges. Whatipu is around the far bay to the right.
We love the picture frame too.
No comments:
Post a Comment