After more than a week in the cottage in Manly Beach and exploring the Whangaparaoa area, it was time to head north on Jan18. We drove a couple hours up the east coast to Whangarei and checked into the Discovery Settlers Hotel. It was a short walk into town where we had a nice lunch right next to the Hundertwasser Art Center.
The ‘Town Basin Loop’ is a 4 km long walking trail, down one side of the Hatea River and up the other side, with restaurants, playgrounds, parks, a theater and many art, history, and culture exhibits. They came up with a big plan in 1998 and implemented it over time, finishing in 2014. Everything is very nice, built to last, and well maintained. The Hundertwasser Art Center is near the north end. Hundertwasser was a famous Austrian artist and architect who fell in love with New Zealand during one of his exhibits here. He moved here and became very active in work to preserve the natural beauty and traditional culture.
A long, thin marina extends through much of the Town Basin. The area is well know as a great harbor of boats from all over the world, with many marinas and good services for maintenance and repair. Right now, our old boat, Calista, is in Marsden Cove Marina, just down the bay a bit.
This pedestrian / cycling bridge defines the northern edge.
The drawbridge has counter-weights shaped like traditional fish hooks.
This is a huge ‘Camera Obscura’ or pin-hole camera.
Inside, you can see the inverted image that comes through the pin-hole.
This is a cool table with bench seat and covering. The whole thing rotates when you grab the orange dot in the middle of the table and turn it. Fun!
The back of these benches can be moved so you can sit facing the river or away.
Some very nice art pieces.
This is meant to show the traditional eel nets but also to be made of modern marine materials, combining the old with the new.
There were many kiwi sculptures along the walk.
There were several very large playgrounds in the Town Basin.
This is a wonderful clock machine with balls racing around tracks and resting in various places to mark the hour, minute, and 15 second increments. Fascinating to watch!
Outside the clock museum was an enormous sun dial.
The next day we went to Whangarei Falls, a 26 meter waterfall, just outside of town.
The falls were pretty nice, even now, the dry part of the year.
After that, we took a 4 mile hike, the ‘Busby Head Loop’ at the end of the peninsula. Very green pasture land.
Including a WW2 gun emplacement. They were afraid of Japanese invasion, but they never did get down this far south.
Many gorgeous views!
And many official observers, to keep us on the trail. 😉
The natural backdrops in New Zealand are stunning. That’s why our company shot Lord of the Rings there — that and Peter Jackson…