The longest footbridge...

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You will be pleased to hear that its sunny again here in heaven... in fact as I type it is a bit too warm (32-34) - very humid and we could do with a bit of cloud to cool things down. Never satisfied us brits are we!

After spending yesterday watching the rain, wind and waves we decided to head out and explore a little further out of Tutukaka. Heading north - we following the winding coast road past yet more stunning scenery, sandy bays, rocky outcrops, turquoise sea and white surf.... oh how I will miss this back home.

Then the road weaves its way around the many hills, heading slightly inland until we spotted the sign for Whananaki South. This is where the road became a little more interesting. In NZ terms it is classified as "unsealed" - in translation this means it is a gravel track, very narrow in places with absolutely no hard standing on either side - quite litterally the gravel is piled up to form a road - then you drive on it. It would make a quite spectacular rally stage as it winds its way down the valley - up and down the sides of hills (with no hint of safe verge to protect you off the gravel) for 9km.

Whananaki is definately not on the tourist route. Whananaki South consists of about a dozen small houses - which look across the estuary to Whananaki North - which in addition to its dozen houses also has a school and a dairy (shop). The school entrance was a fascinating wood carved archway (see pic) - and the school itself was probably on the most picturesque spot you can imagine - looking out on the estuary.

The reason for our little excursion to Whananaki was a strange kind of curiosity... it has the longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere - at an impressive 395 metres. The bridge is the width of three planks of wood (plus handrails thank goodness) across its entire 395 metre span - and joins the South and North Whananaki's together.

Most tourists would be unimpressed I suspect - but we found it fascinating. In addition the drive on the "unsealed road" provided us with the opportunity to enjoy the scenery, bushland and the most bird life we have seen in NZ - including heron, oyster catcher, mynah, tui, peacock, turkey (yes, really!), and the very nice (but dim) pukeko (a swamp hen with blue plumage and bright red beak). It might not be a top tourist attraction but we enjoyed it!

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