A Day at Tawhranui

Friday the 11th dawned clear and sunny yet again. Hans, Pris and John were up early for a morning walk before Pris' cleaner came. Once a week she comes to clean their absolutely spotless home.

Then it was packing the car with a picnic lunch (sandwiches, feijoa wine, and a fruit loaf) and they were off to Tawhranui (pronounced TAFF-RAH-NEW-EE). It is one of Nature's many special places in Aotearoa. It is a place of great beauty, wonderful white sand beaches, rocky shores, and natural hillsides. Technically it is a part of the Auckland Parks system and on top of that it is a working farm. There is also a marine sanctuary there. For more see: Tawhranui

Tawhranui is at the end of a long peninsula so it takes some time to get there. The three friends passed through the gate in the predator fence. This fence runs across the entire peninsula and the authorities have taken out all of the invasive species of animals both predatory and introduced in hopes that the native birds and plants can come back.

Europeans, North Americans and even Maori and Pacific Islanders have, over the course of time, brought many harmful plants and animals to New Zealand. These invasive species have badly damaged the unique flora and fauna of this place; a piece of paradise that separated from the rest of the world 180 million years ago.

It is good to see that people are now trying to undo the damage. And Tawhranui is such a place - even though it still has cattle and sheep along with its wild places.




Hans found a great place on the beach for them - under a Pohutukawa tree, away from the sun and the brisk onshore breeze. They set down their beach blankets and were able to gaze out over the blue ocean to Little Barrier Island, one of the islands that guards the approach to Auckland Harbour and keeps it safe for sailors.

Their hearts went out to a seagull who had lost one foot and had to keep balance on the other. They threw plenty of scraps his way while they ate their delicious sandwiches and drank the feijoa wine.

As Hans and Pris laid down to enjoy the soft shade of the Pohutukawa tree under which they were sitting, John went off to take some video. He saw some sheep grazing and heard more bird song so he took it for Jack at home to enjoy.

Then it was back to Puhoi.

Later in the day, they all went down to the village for fish and chips and chilled Stella Artois that they bought at the general store. They sat down on the banks of the Puhoi River to eat. Neither John nor Hans could get the tops off the bottles as they were not the screw top type and Hans' tool did not seem to have a bottle opener. So Hans asked a guy who happened to be picnicing nearby if he had such a tool. He did and was happy to bring it over to open the bottles. John asked him if he'd like a beer but he said thanks but no; he was about to drive.

It was such a civilized way to eat dinner on a warm evening - on the banks of a river, eating delclious, delicately battered fresh fish, tasty home made chips (err fench fries), while washing it all down with a cool beer.

John took many deep breaths and realized once again why he had come to love this land when he lived here before.

TRB