Tiritiri Matangi

Today we spent the day
'twitching'.
We went on a ferry to Tiritiri Matangi, it's a protected bird sanctury island in the Gulf. It's full of very rare and endangered NZ bird species, some are below. It's an amazing place full of native birdsong, flaura and fauna, a great way to spend a day.

Leaving the city behind...

on the boat with where we live is in the distance





A bit of a sea breeze



Mike on the Maori Pa site on the island















Takahe - flightless, super rare only a few hundred left in NZ

Bellbird

Stitch bird

On our way back either the sail is the biggest I've ever seen or the crew were Lilliputians !

Back on the mainland at the end of our trip, Mike enjoying the 'fush & Chups' at Mairangi Bay.

rain

2 days of rain and I feel like I'm back in Manchester.....except its warm and there are palm trees.

somewhere under the rainbow

Last week...a rainbow over our garden. Today our landlord Jason who is from Taiwan gave us some feijoas fresh from his tree behind the fence, very organic and free.

Mangawhai Heads

Today we went to Mangawhai Heads which is up north a bit...it was pretty windy and overcast but still very warm.

A few down The Arden

Our farewell drinks down The Arden Arms...you don't get pubs or mates like this in NZ!

Photos thanks to Hannah & Martin.

fireworks

2 weeks ago we climbed to the top of the Harbour bridge (pretty special, our mate, John is the bridge manager). The Queen Mary II was sailing out so they had a big firework display to send it off on the harbour.

Photos are curtesy of Toby who had a super camera.

Pasifika 07

Today we went to the Pasifika festival at Western Springs in Auckland.

Lots of Islander style dancing and singing and food...Mike enjoyed the pineapple icecream.

The blue bird is a Pukeko - a bit of native wildlife.

Rush hour, Coromandel

Carry on Camping in the Coromandel

We went camping last week to the Coromandel. This is the northern tip. From here you can see Great Barrier Island which is where the BBC are about to start filming Castaway. I don't think they will be very castaway at all as the Island has lots of people living there and is a big tourist destination with cars and everything....

above is the campsite we stayed at right on the beach. Thats our car and tent and Mike trying to light the fire to cook our sausages on.

morning at home

The view at sunrise from our bedroom window. It's Rangitoto Island (a volcano). We quite like it!

Parkiri Beach

2 Weeks ago - Parkiri Beach up north on the east coast about an hour away. There is a great chippy nearby if your ever passing!
We had some awesome waves on our body board. In the morning we had been snorkelling at Goat Island and saw lots of very big scary snapper.

Waiheke Island

This was us the first week we arrived when we paid a trip to Waiheke Island to vist our friend Michael who has just built a house by this beach.