King Tides

The first weekend in February was extra special this year.  It was the weekend of the super tides.  It only happens when the moon and the earth are in a particular alignment. I am not sure what it is but it happens twice a year.  One is bigger than the other.  Last week was the highest of this year.  

It was so high that some of the areas that are right by the water flooded.  Our beaches have a drop-off like terrain so it was not a problem but in some of the areas south of the city the walking paths were under water.  With the very high tides there are also very low tides.  So of course we had to make a couple of walks to the beach.  

We finished our walk of the harbor beaches which was great.  I have kind of a rule that I always look to find something unique on the sand. This walk was no exception.  I saw a starfish.

It is upside down here in the sand. I took a good long hard look at it and realized that there were little things moving on the bottom. So I carefully picked him up and put him back in the water. It reminded me of the story of the boy who was throwing them back.  Anyway, I put him back and we walked on.  It was a fun walk and we saw come incridble rocks we had never seen before.

When we were coming back (about 80 minutes later) we got to the place on the beach where I had put the star back into the water and there it was...this time floating upside down in the water.  I carefully picked him up and put it in my hat.  And took him home and put it in a tub of water.

It was still a bit soft, anyway the tenicles moved back and forth but not up and down.  The next day I put some bleach in the water.  That is required if you want to take them out of the country.  It insures that all the little things are dead too.  And this is what I now have.

To say the least, I am thrilled.  I already have it in a tupperware comtainer that will carry it to the US of A. 

In case you do not know the story of the boy and the starfish, here you go.

The Starfish Story

One day a man was walk­ing along the beach when he noticed
a boy pick­ing some­thing up and gen­tly throw­ing it into the ocean.

Approach­ing the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throw­ing starfish back into the ocean. 
The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you real­ize there are miles and miles of beach and hun­dreds of starfish? 
You can’t make a difference!”

After lis­ten­ing politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smil­ing at the man, he said…”
I made a dif­fer­ence for that one.”

~ Orig­i­nal Story by: Loren Eis­ley

Sticker Shock!

After having been here for over 20 months you would think that we would be over the shock of seeing what people have to pay for items at the market.  Take a look at these photos with the amount of pennies required to buy them.

I always considered a Duncan Hines cake mix to be the cream of the crop if you were going to buy one. I was always happy when I could find them for $1 or a bit more.  This is almost insane!

But then take a gander at a single-layer Betty Crocker cake?  They must use a different measuring stick than I ever did!

And take a look at what it costs you to put a pre-made frosting on top of that treat.  I would certainly think twice before I whipped up a batch of cupcakes to take to the sister down the street!

I thought I had seen everything until I went around the corner and saw a display for quart canning jars. 

I just about stumbled.  It certainly would change my idea of going out and trying to find the best bushel of peaches to put in them!  Someone would have to pay me to take their fruit for me to make the initial investment in the jars.  You can only hope that the op-shop (DI) would have them for less or that your aunty had a cupboard of them you could have!

Yikes!

Where did you get them eyes?

After we left Doubtless Bay and Cooper's Beach we drove back towards Bay of Islands where we were staying.  We had been told that the world's best fish and chips hailed from the little town of Mangonui which was just two kilometers off the main road and you can bet we would not pass up an opportunity to put it to the test.  What a fun little place it was. It is right on another small bay. We stopped at this little fish shop to see what we would find.  It looked like a deli (of fish foods only) with a place to order food (fish) to eat there or to takeaway.  And then there was another section like a bar where you could get water and soda or something harder if you chose.  We did not!  But we did pay $4 for a bottle of water and $3 for an individual bottle of Sprite Zero.

As we walked into the dining area this is the first thing we saw.  It did not take us long to figure out why they would even think to post such a sign!

We then took a glance at their deli case and I will tell you, it was like noooooo deli case I had ever seen.  Not only do people love to catch and grill, deep-fat fry and smoke snapper but they love to eat....wait for it....their HEADS!

We have learned from experience that the cheek of a fish is the softest and tastiest.  Maybe that is from the motion that they make with their mouths every second that they are alive.  But here, if you ask anyone that loves to fish and eat them too, they will tell you that the very best, most delicious part of the fish is....THE EYE!  These are nice and clear indicating that it they are fresh.  And look how cheap they are!  Nothing in this country costs $1 a kilo!

They love them smoked as well....these look really disgusting to me.  Like a CRAZY fish! And these are not nearly as cheap.  These are $6 per kilo.

We had a lovely view of the water while we ate this world-famous fish.  And we figured out why it was sooooo good.  There were people that worked for the company who were at the very moment we were eating, catching more of these little beaities to sell to the next people that came in.  We have not had better or fresher fish!  And the view across the water was nice as well.

We congratulated ourselves on our timing.  Just as we were gathering up our papers to leave a large touring bus pulled in and the place quickly filled up with all sorts of tourists, all anxioius to share in our delightful meal in Mangonui!

Doubtless Bay

Two weeks before Christmas we drove up to Cooper's Beach which is a section on Doubtless Bay.  We had been asked to come up and speak to about 70 young men from the Kaikohe Stake.  President Beatson has become a good friend as we have worked with him as he is getting young men and women (old ones too I guess as he has some senior missionaries serving) ready to serve on missions.

Don't you think the shorter man with the gold and navy tie is a good looking companion?  I think so.

Anyway, after we had taken care of our responsibilities we took a short drive up the coast to an area where we could get out and walk a bit.  It was a lovely afternoon.  Of course the temperatures were about 75 degrees F so the populous was complaining that it was sweltering but we know better.  

I am fascinated with the changes in the water color, indicating water depth.  I love to watch the clouds and see the shadows that they put onto the water and hills.  Doubtless Bay is a large inlet.  It almost makes a complete circle with the land.  This section was names Cooper's because after Captain Cook discovered it, men were left there to make barrels for the shipping business, hence-- Coopers.

Nice, huh?  Tide is out.

Tairua Peak

Remember the mud flats I posted a picture of in Tairua and low tide.  On the other side of that mad there is a large peak. Robert at the hotel told us that we needed to be sure and climb to the top of the peak.  The legacy is that when you visit and climb to the top of that peak that you will return to New Zealand within seven years.  So it was a foregone conclusion that we had to be sure and climb to the top before we left the place.  And we did!

See the mudflats and the peak?  It doesn't look that high and we drove up to where the houses end.  This is looking to the south from the top of the peak.  

This is looking to the north from the same point.

This is one of my favorite photos of the beach.  I loved to watch the waves break.

I guess this is to prove that they were at the top.  We are getting them a piggy bank so they can start to save the nickles and dimes for their return trip.

To keep things in perspective Nate is still Nate.  He was doing the haka up a tree!

The Four Kings Beach

A year ago we visited Cathedral Cove on the Coramandel.  This time we took Nate and Alison with us.  What a fun trip it was.  The hike was still hard but we were in better shape than twelve months ago.  We loved the hike down and loved the sand.  The tide was way out which gave us easy access to all parts of the cove.  It was not as crowded as it was last time although there were plenty of people there.

I took some pretty awesome photos if I do say so myself.  Let's see if I can get them to work tonight.

Last time I posted a flick of this cove it was from the other side, looking out through this hole instead of into it.  The water was nearly up to the yellow boats last time so we never made it over to this side of the beach.

Nice, huh?  Can you see the different colors of the water?

This is Nate headed out to that big rock.  You can see where the waterline is at high tide.  He was able to walk all the way to about four or five feet from the outcrop.  Then he crawled up on top of it.

What a hunk!

When you come running out of the cove like they did in the movie then this island is right in front of you.  It was pretty neat looking to me and I really liked it.  I am amazed to see the trees and the brush growing out of this rock.  I am impressed by the way the water and and wind have sculpted the rock.

White-faced Heron in Tairua

As I mentioned before when we arrived in Tairua it looked like someone had pulled the plug on the bay and all the water had been drained off.  We still took a walk and were rewarded to be able to see a white-faced heron.  I will only share a few of the 100 plus photos that I took of this fascinating creature.

Here is the mud bay.  When the tide is up all of this in under feet of water. 

Nate saw this bird off in the distance and asked "what did of bird is that?"  Thankfully I had a zoom lens on my camera and was able to get a close-up of the creature.  

He was searching for his supper and I was happy to see that he found something to satisfy his hunger. 

It was so fun to watch his graceful walk...almost a strut!

I could swear he knew we were watching him... just a bit of showing off don't you think?