Leaving home at around 7am a quick one and a half hour or so drive north from Auckland down a long winding gravel road we arrived at one of the hidden treasures called Tawharanui Beach. Cut into 2 sections by a natural land formation the beaches can be thought of as family oriented on one side and if the weather is right a surf beach on the other side. What makes this a great beach to visit is that it has no strong rips or currents of water that surge outward to the sea. A rip is when the sea water comes into land travels along the beach and returns to the sea at some point on the beach. The currents are so strong that you cannot swim back to the beach and even experienced swimmers have a tough time swimming across the rip to calm water. One infamous beach in New Zealand known for it dangerous rips and just being plain dangerous is Piha but we will visit there later.
Although Tawharanui is a calm beach, good for a relaxed surf or swim, there is always one thing to take note of for most of New Zealand beaches. There is no surf patrol here so taking care of yourself and your friends or family is important as help can be literally miles away.
Having said that Tawharanui has a few things to keep visitors occupied. Swimming and sunbathing the obvious ones but also there are rock pools where you can find native birds nesting or crabs hiding and nature walks where you can see the wildlife of New Zealand. There are always some Pukeko's (Native birds) hanging around somewhere. Speaking about birds watch out for the Seagulls. If you have a packed lunch or snacks and they see it in your bag they will wait for you to go swimming and then rob you of your goodies. That's right they will somehow open your zipper, take out your potato chips, open the bag and eat them before you get back!
Here are a few photos and a video of the beach. I will upload a video of the drive their later as it takes a few hours to upload to YouTube.
After several hours body boarding and eating and relaxing we left and I headed off to another night at IPW Wrestling. I was curious this time because the event moved to the Mt Albert War Memorial Hall and I thought the lighting would be better for photos. Well not so much. As the sun went down the lighting from the lighting rig washed out the wrestlers again. I did however get a few shots and a video of the main event that will give you another idea of what the wrestling is like here in New Zealand.
So another pretty good night for wrestling fans. I may go to a few more this year, I shall see what other plans I have.
Next week I should be at the Kumeu Car Show. I don't think I have been before so it should be a surprise for me as well. Lets see what I can capture photography wise and maybe something on video as well.
Until next week have a great time and enjoy the summer (or winter) wherever you are! ^^
