Mangawhai Heads

Despite it being such a beautiful spring day at Langs Beach
I decided to move on... Not far... To Mangawhai Heads.


I first came here when my children were young...
We had a big family tent and camped on a friends lawn
not far from where these photos were taken.

That's 30+ years ago now!  I have passed through here
several times since and watched it change
from a small, out of the way, sea-side village with typical
basic New Zealand 'bachs' (small holiday homes).
Now it is very up-market...
A suburb of the Auckland Super-City... And like
Auckland, property development is in full swing  and
most of the cute bachs have disappeared.

I couldn't resist a frozen yogurt cone... And walked right into
an unexpected very interesting conversation.
My bus had attracted the attention of the man at the stall...
He has a bus, not an old Bedford like mine...
But told me he had just returned from a trip round the
gold fossicking sites in the South Island.
I was intrigued... He said it didn't take long to pay for his diesel!
He gave me a web site called 'Paydirt' to look up...
All I need to know about making my fortune in gold!
So, as I'm heading south, and how far south
remains undecided... Who knows?

Mangawhai, despite all the development remains
a wonderful beach... Little Barrier or Great Barrier Island in
the distance. I looked at my map but am undecided as one is in front of
the other, depending on the angle you are looking from.

A fabulous day... A very popular beach for swimming and
surfing the there are some very good walks.

Plenty of information... A large car park...

A suft life saving club and good toilets and changing sheds.
I don't know if you can park overnight in the car park in a self
contained vehicle, but there is a camping ground...
Round to the right of the estuary in the first photo...
But I decided to carry on to the next place.
That's the great thing about being like a snail with my house on my back...