Long Bay Regional Park

It was 12 months ago that I penned my last blog. Why ? Do we need exact answers ? Don't think so. The possibilities : lack of inspiration, too busy doing nothing, immersed in photography. The lists will go on.

Last Sunday we decided to tackle the gentle terrain of Long Bay over at North Shore. The bush and coastal walk took us 3 1/2 hours to complete, covering, may be, 10km. Why did we do that ? We believe we should discover more of the well kept parks, tracks and shorelines nearby. Walking do give you a different perspective about the area, scenery, sense of achievement and level of satisfaction. More importantly we are training our fitness before venture into the alpine terrain in the South Island at the end of the year. Yes we have booked a 4D/3N tramp and it is the first for all of us. Scary and  excited about the tramp ahead, you bet. It suggests you take 3 months to train you fitness before attempting the multi-days tramp.


 We started at Vaughan Homestead, walk along the nature trail , cross the paddock, down to the beach, up the gentle slope, walk across muddy puddles, climb over gates and finally taking a rest at the rocky beach near Okura river for our well earned lunch break.

The weather was excellent, almost like in summer. Luckily the track and slope were firm and not too taxing on the ageing legs.

Vaughan Homestead 

On our way back we were fortunate to have this juvenile fantail leading the way for us.

Fantail

I managed to take this photo while it was resting on the fence.










Next sighting was this pair of variable oystercatcher along the shoreline. Once upon a time the variable oystercatcher was quite a rare bird and now they are protected.

Oystercatcher

Pohutukawa Bay

However the next sighting tops all the above.No photo of this sighting as we were too engrossed in it. We encountered nude bathers along Pohutukawa Bay. They were resting away from the main entrance/exit points of the Bay.





There were few yacht out on the water. I think the island on the background is Tiritiri Matangi Island.

She was all dressed up for the occasion. Definitely she was well prepared and enjoying the walk, by the look on her face!

Sky City Tower at the distance

The views are expansive. This all year-round walk is rated as Easy but for a start it is quite challenging yet not discouraging. With such "WOW" views, you just have to go on and not even aware of  7kg burden you have to carry.