Photo above shows toetoe grass on the slopes above Whangaroa

It is Autumn here on the east coast of Northland and many of the hills and valleys are covered in the bleached seed heads of toetoe grass - a lovely sight.

We have been whanga* hopping up the coast, without any specific aims. It is an area we know well. In fact we learned to sail on this coast in the late 1980s. The coastline between the Coromandel and Houhora is NZ's easiest coastline to cruise with hundreds of possible anchorages. It doesn't have the mountainous splendor of Fiordland or the empty spaces of the Marlborough Sounds, but it is our free, beautiful back yard. It is now too cold and nights too long to bother with camping out in the bush, so it is easier just pottering around the bays in Saraoni.

We have been tapping away of course to earn some money for our offshore trips this year. Later this month we will be flying up to tiny Niue for a week, courtesy of an almost ridiculously cheap return flight by Air NZ. We missed Niue on the Pacific crossing last year as we took the northern route but those who stopped there enjoyed their stay and it's one of those places where it's easier to visit by plane! We'll only be back for a week before flying off to Los Angeles and heading for the Californian Sierras and then up to British Columbia.

Autumn has been very peaceful weather wise along the Northland coast. There has not been much wind with just the odd rainy day. It is definitely getting colder at night but we are still wearing t shirts and shorts in the daytime.

We are currently anchored off the little town of Whangaroa, in the well protected harbour of the same name. There are hardly any boats around now and just as few in the Bay of Islands, 30 miles to the South. The Bay of Islands is filling up with those who are heading North to the islands this year. Some have already gone, dodging the odd late cyclone and tropical storm. We'll be following in their wake next year at this time, so we are watching their weather with interest!



Saraoni at the Poor Knights marine reserve, 12 nm NE of Tutukaka



Whanga hopping up the coast - this is Mimiwhangata bay, to the South of the larger Whangaruru harbour. Whangaruru means "harbour of the morepork owl!"



Cape Brett, the rocky Southern entrance to the Bay of Islands



Whangaroa Harbour from St. Paul's Rock above the township. Whangaroa means "long harbour"



A praying mantis found on the side of St. Paul's. This is a "springbok" mantis, a South African accidental import and judging from the bulge in the abdomen, a pregnant female. The clueless NZ native male mantises don't know the difference between their own females and SA ones. Apparently they try and mate with the wrong ones and then get their heads chewed off! As with so many native species here, the NZ mantises are not surprisingly in decline!




Another unfortunate NZ endemic, the nocturnal, carnivorous kauri snail. This one found alive on the way to Wairakau Creek. Rats and pigs like eating them!



Dogs aren't welcome unless they have gone through kiwi aversion training - a jab with an electric prodder while sniffing kiwi!



The Duke's Nose (Phillip's that is) from the Wairakau valley.



Saraoni peacefully at anchor off Totara North in Whangaroa Harbour. St. Paul's rock, a volcanic plug, in the background.



Murals painted by Chris Wilkie on the tin shack walls of the Totara North museum, depicting the early timber (kauri) extraction days in the harbour. It took less than 40 years to decimate Northland's kauri forests and replace them with dirty dairy - NZ's equivalent of oil palm!


*Whanga - Maori for harbour, bay, inlet (fa(n)ga in Tongan, Samoan, hana in Tahitian and Marquesan) - it's a common place name on the NZ coast - Whanganui, Whangaparaoa, Whangarei, Whangaruru, Whangamumu, Whangaroa, just to mentioned a few.