My Last Day... A Walk Along Muriwai Beach

It was my last day in Auckland... Where had the time gone?

I had walked round the suburb where I was staying, visited my

favourite shops from my last visit there. Found some new

cafes with absolutely delicious food, there are so many they have

to be above the ordinary to survive the competition!

Explored Ponsonby Road again...

I went to the Auckland City Art Gallery... And my last day came .

Janeen and I set off towards West Auckland to go shopping

but the day was far too warm and sunny...

So we changed our plans and came here... Muriwai Beach

Hard black sand and surf on the west coast

Motutara Island off the end of the mainland...

On these rocky ledges is a gannet colony... With the gannets

wheeling and diving for fish. About 1200 pairs of gannets nest

here between August and March each year. There

is a short walking track to a viewing platform just above the

main colony area.

The colours and cloud formations were stunning...

The clouds reflected in the wet sand...

Me... Paddling with my boots on!

Janeen sitting on a huge washed up log as we ate our apples.

And suddenly a huge black cloud appeared and thick rain

in the distance... We raced back along the beach to the car.

We just made it... and headed off for lunch at...