Walk 7 - Mahurangi

Slow progress on many levels but a sunny autumn day takes us to Mahurangi Regional Park. These regional parks, as I often write about are a marvel. Free and delicious. Seriously.
Mahurangi is 51km north of Auckland, took us about an hour to get there, with the stop for coffee of course. The park is divided into three 'fingers' and is a mixture of sheltered bays, native bush and open pasture. Straddling the Mahurangi harbour it's popular with boats, several popped in while we were there and when we last came at New Years it was full of boats around the place.
Using the handy leaflet and map I can tell you the park area was the ancestral home of Ngati Rongo and there are fortified pa sites at Opahi, Cudlip and Te Muri points. In the 1870s a sea captain, John Sullivan, married Merehai Kaipuke and settled at Otarawao, now called Sullivans Bay.
The handy map leaflet combo also list walks around the park. We opted for the Cudlip Point Loop Track, 3km, up, around, down, around some more, up again and down again. Perfect for warming up my dodgy hip.
However the best bit and the wind of the day was the swim. It was a sunny autumn day and in Auckland that can be quite warm, around 20 degrees C. Salt water in one shape or another is the answer to most ails in life, so the dodgy hip, tired apathy and all that needed a swim in the sea. Adam was dubious but I packed all the gear and how amazing. There was some cloud, and we were the only people in the water. It was luscious, calm, warm enough to enjoy and just wonderful......and breathe.
Picnic lunch and reading, then the walk, then some more reading with hot herb tea and homemade feijoa loaf. A wonderful autumnal mixture that really couldn't be bettered. Well, the sleep in the car on the way home totally topped it off, but Adam was driving so I didn't want to brag so much about that.
I'm now asking myself, if my walks can be like this, why am I only on number seven?

























Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Queenies Lunchroom

Kiwi's do love their coffee, they love cafes and they love eating out. It's a breakfast, brunch, lunch thing mainly as many cafes close around 3.30 (this did take some getting used to but I'm there now, plus I know the ones that stay open longer for when I need that 5pm caffeine fix). A public holiday and the surcharge does not deter Auckland folk from their cafe fix. It's very social and there is seriously a lot of choice. Sure we have our favourites, ones where we even 'known' and chat away to the staff, the local ones and the special treat ones. To up this cafe lark and make sure we're not missing out, or getting stuck in a rut, that kind of thing, we've set ourselves a challenge. It may also be about that we'll soon have every weekend off together - Adam has a new job (whoohoo) so he too will become a Monday to Friday worker - and we're excited about the change. So yes, the challenge, we have to find a 'new' cafe each weekend, taking it in turns. We get to traverse the streets of auckland using the inevitable google maps to places previously unseen and unknown.
This week was it was Adam who had to find the spot. We ended up at one we'd passed but never stopped at. The delightfully named Queenies Lunchroom. It made Metro's top 50 list (a good place to start I figure). Our lazy long weekend meant we were there at 12ish but in need of breakfast. Granola for me, eggs on toast for Adam. Good coffee. Good service, very good service actually. Very groovy place. Eclectic, funky I suppose. Lots of greenery around the building and some spots to sit outside.
Happens to be very close to the rather good Ecostore and the large New World that is a handy stop every now and then, so we'll be back.
















Posted using BlogPress from my iPad