Auckland, New Zealand

Beach Vacation

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Beach Wallpapers

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Red Beach, Auckland NZ

Nov-05... Spent Thurs/Friday working in New Zealand and decided to stay for the weekend. Richard Pirrit, A friend from work at Acer invited me to stay at his familys holiday house on Red Beach, 45 mins North of Auckland.
We knocked off early to beat the traffic (and the approaching storm..this is NZ remember), arriving just as the weather turned. I had hoped for good weather on this trip, having had ten wet days out of eleven last time I was here, but it was just not to be. Right on que as we opened the front door the front hit, complete with gale force winds and blinding rain... not the greatest setting for a beach vacation.

The picture below was actually one of the first I took, looking south from Rich's front yard during a break in the storm. Shortly before sunset the wind let up and the ocean calmed down. The picture above was taken at sunset, and was pretty much the view I had from my bedroom. Shortly before we were lucky enough to see a pod of orca's swimming out to sea.

Red Beach Rainbow

Goat Island Marine Reserve

The next day we drove up the coast to Goat Island Marine Reserve, which is famous for its tame snapper that can be hand fed. Unfortuneately the weather was still bad, which was a pity because this place would be great to photograph with the sun out.

From Goat Island we drove back down the coast, stopping at the Sawmill cafe for lunch... where I finally got to see some snapper. Next stop was Omaha Beach, a big sandy shoreline that was taking the full brunt of the southerlies blowing through.
It not really being beach weather, Rich and I headed back to the beach house, with just a quick stop at a local winery to stock up for the night. Kate, Rich's girlfriend, met up with us back on Red Beach, where we had dinner and an ample amount of wine in front of a cracking fire while the storm raged outside.

Ohmaha Beach, Auckland NZ

Devonport Pier, Auckland

Next morning, a little worse for wear, Rich and I drove down to Devonport for a greasy breakfast, then across to the city where we visited all the normal tourist sites, including an extinct volcano only a couple of miles from the centre of town that now serves as a lookout (and sheep farm)... see pic of me and Rich atop Mt Eden below.

The weather was a bit better this morning.. there was even odd patches of sunlight between the rainy squalls. I shouldn't complain about the weather though... at least its consistent! From Mt Eden we visited a Maori museuem before eating lunch at one of the beaches along Mission Bay, which all have great views of Rangitoto Island... yet another volcano.

Rangitoto Island, Auckland