Day # 102 & 103

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Ever seen a drunk Tui? Well there are literally hundreds of them here at Puriri Bay. The Kowhai trees are all in flower here and the Tui’s are singing away like happy drunks. The bird life around here is probably the best that we have encountered so far. The noise first thing in the morning could either relax you or drive you crazy.

A little rain this morning so I decided to get the camera out and look for some inspiration. The Tui was on my list (got it😊, not perfect but still ok). Puriri DOC Camp sits on the Whangaruru North Head Scenic Reserve, so this afternoon’s adventure was to walk one of the tracks. Up over the hill South of the camp and down to pretty secluded Admiral Bay. Up out of the Bay through farmland then onto a bush track we walked up to the Trig Station. The view was slightly obscured with the growing bush but you could see Whangaruru Harbour, South to North Head and out to Poor Knights Islands. The track then leads us East and down to a view high above a remote ocean Beach. Now this view is a bit of a treat. Heading North from here we had another treat! Hundreds and hundreds of stairs leading up a steep hill (I'm pretty sure a lot higher than the Trig Station hill). Boy did our Gluteus Maximus Muscles get a work out. The heart was pounding the legs were screaming (someone remind me why we do this stuff!). A couple of nice views along the East side of the track, before heading West back to camp. This track is gruelling in places but a pretty walk with some treats along the way.

With the Tsunami warning cancelled we decided to put the net out tonight. Fingers crossed we haven’t had a feed of fish for a while.



Day 103

Early morning start in the cold to clear the net. Oh boy what a mission. 13 + fish nicely tangled in the net. It took us 2 ½ hours to clear and process the fish. You can’t beat a fresh fish butty sandwich for breakfast😊.

The next track on our list heads East behind camp then loops around towards Bland Bay. Lance and I may have had our lead boots on but we found this track a bit of a grind this morning. The track was wet, slippery and rough in places under foot. Highlight was the view at one point down to Bland Bay and outer islands. The views from the supposed ‘Lookout’ were disappointing, perhaps because you couldn’t see much. You were quite a distance from the coast and the foliage had grown too high to really get a decent view. The track then leads you down a steep hill to swampy area, here things get quite wet underfoot. Back out on the road with a squelch then down to Picnic Bay and around the small coast track back to camp.

A quick coffee then we packed up in the rain and started our journey to Otamure DOC camp. A few quick stops along the way to have a look at Bland Bay, Whangaruru South, Oakura, and Helena Bay. Now parked up at the beautiful Otamure and preparing our next fish dish for dinner😊.

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