Wenderholm Regional Park

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Across a shell covered shallow ocean bottom, I wade across to a sand bar and look back at the mountain track I've just completed. The Maungatauhoro Te Hiko (A Journey through Tauhoro Mountain) track is a 2.9 km track through the heart of Wenderholm Regional Park. Wenderholm, meaning winter home, was once home to a prominent European settler, Robert Graham but is now known, as it still stands, as Cauldry House, named for the last owner.

I left Piha early this morning in an attempt to go out to Tiritiri Matangi, an island wildlife preserve, but got lost and didn't make the ferry. I headed up to Orewa, where I had planned to spend the night, and from there passed Waiwera and stumbled upon Wenderholm. It was a beautiful hike where at every lookout point you could see the rain slowly drifting to the ground below. I followed up that hike with the Te Akeake track along the beach.

I ended up in Mangawhai for the night. I'm sitting in the back of my car looking out onto what I think is the ocean but I can't really see for the fog. I had a great dinner of pasta with creamy satay sauce and tuna (which made up for my horrible breakfast of oatmeal), and now I'm off to bed pretty soon.

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Photos

Maungatauhoro Te Hikoi Lookout
The view from the top of Maungatauhoro

Me and Puhoi
Overlooking the Puhoi river.

Protector ;)
A carving depicting several aspects of Maori culture including man's strong desire to protect his "Wahine" or woman.

Friendship Rock
Top that Susoe and Amy!

Footsteps in the Sand
Walking along the Te Akeake Beach I stopped to take a picture of where I'd been.

Pukeko
How to properly eat a NZ chicken (Pukeko): Take a leather boot, stick the Pukeko inside, boil together for 30-35 minutes, take the pukeko out and eat the boot.