Tawharanui (ta-far-a-noo-ee)

Rhiannon and I, on consecutive weekends awhile back, made the quick 80 minute drive up to Tawharanui Regional Park. It has a beach. It has a native bird sanctuary. It has great camping too. And hiking trails. Oh and rock pools. I'm just really excited to tell you about it.

I have to admit that after the extreme uniqueness (is that a thing? If something is unique it can't be anymore or less unique, right?) and breathtaking views that constantly smacked me in the face and occipital lobe on the South Island, I didn't really know if I would capture that feeling of awe again on the North Island. After all, there are a lot of pretty beaches and views in and around and near Auckland, but constant availability makes me unconsciously take them for granted. 

The other thing that the South Island has on its side, and I just realized it as I started typing this, is the relative lack of crowds. Even though Milford Sound and Mt. Cook and the glaciers are the most well-known sights in NZ, they aren't easy to get to. That makes the number of people cramming themselves up and down hiking paths and along the narrow roadways limited. One thing I really like about travelling is the perception, whether real or not, of doing something that is rare, of experiencing a place at a certain time that not many other people in the world will ever do. Much of the South Island gives you that feeling - setting up camp in dense and shrouded woodland, kayaking underneath a waterfall, being one of ten or so people at a reflective Alpine lake. 

Near Auckland, the beaches are often pretty populated. Not like Copacabana crowded, but you definitely don't get the sense that you're experiencing it on your own. As an occasional hater of crowds (not strictly agoraphobic, just don't like them), this can be pretty annoying. Tawharanui, due to its relative lack of fame coupled with the fact that you have to drive on gravel roads for several kms before reaching the park, doesn't suffer from these crowds nearly as much.

All of this is to say that if you arrive at Tawharanui on a clear Saturday summer's eve (which we did the first weekend there), you get the whole damn thing practically to yourself:

Smiling because no one's here.

A dusty sunset guides us to our picnicking location.

Action shot! Caw-ca-caw-ca-caw!

I mean this particular evening was incredibly clear, like contemporaneous gigantic moon-rise and sunset clear:  

The moon races above the opposing burning horizon.

And then some humans got in the way.

Descend a few vacant steps, slip your toes into the world's softest sand, and let your cares melt away.

I mean just look how empty that is. Also, pretty.

And this was mid to late January, so the water was perfect for swimming.

Picture of Rhiannon testing the water and taking picture of surf. Included:  no one else.

Did I mention it was a really clear night?

You get the point, so here is an artsy photo from atop a nearby hill/rock. It was a really great rock.

So like, job done, right? Some amount of travelling was performed. I've shown you a really nice evening spent in a vacant and beautiful regional park. I probably convinced you that it's totally possible to find a not crowded beach near Auckland. 

But wait, there's more. The next weekend, Rhiannon and I returned. We suspected that we hadn't seen everything Tawharanui has to offer. We bivouacked in a lovely little camping area surrounded by some pretty odd looking native birds, called Pukekos (poo-kek-oh):

I suspect these would be extremely delicious.

Back to the beach, where washed up dead things and rock pools provided hours of entertainment:

Yes this is a penguin. Yes this is sad. And yes it was poked with a stick.

Adorable, prickly, and deadly. I'd say this pufferfish employed excellent camouflage.

The beach's rock pools, which span probably 4-5 acres at low tide, are home to crabs and mussels and sea slugs and numerous types of fish, but by far the best thing caught us completely by surprise:

This legitimately freaked me out as I was a half second away from stepping into this pool.

We could simply goad the octopus into chasing us out of its pool. Clearly guarding something.

"You kids get off my lawn."

So cool and unexpected. We spent a solid half an hour with this octopus, eventually finding out it had a nearby (lazy and useless) mate. We came back an hour later to find it chasing away small crabs from a different pool. Those pictures are great, but the video below does it proper justice. Thanks Tawharanui for giving me my favorite nature encounter in New Zealand to date, and for giving me a jolt of uniqueness and awe once again.

Cheers!