Had a brilliant
day today. After a late start and lots of debates on what to do, we headed to
the West coast, destination Piha beach and to see the gannet colony at Muriwai.
The plan was to also visit some falls enroute, but we ran out of time… so
something for another day. On the route to Piha we took the scenic route, lots of
windy bends on an uphill climb.
The first stop was the Arataki Visitors centre, which
was surprisingly really good and informative coupled with the most amazing scenic views too. There was lots for the children to keep their little brains
occupied here, tanks of lizards, Bark Weta, microscopes to look through etc. At the entrance we were
greeted by a tall Māori totem pole carving, a
group of men standing tall on each others shoulders (easily identifiable as men
which the boys took great delight in pointing out).
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| Entrance to Arataki Visitor Centre |
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| Weta Hotel at Arataki Visitor Centre |
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| Bark Weta |
There was also a
nature trail from the centre, but with time ticking and empty tummies rumbling
we wanted to crack on so added this to the to do list for another day.
Shortly after
leaving the Visitors Centre we came across a lovely restaurant with an elevated
decking area with the most amazing views of Auckland (and a faint dot of our
pad back in Takapuna).
There's quite a bit to write so think I'll break it up and continue this blog in the next blog entry for Piha beach and the Gannet Colony at Muriwai.
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