Takapuna to Medlands Beach, Great Barrier Island
Tryphena and Medlands photoset
Today we got up before the crack of dawn, packed up the van and drove into downtown Auckland to catch our 6am ferry. I had foolishly thought that the ferry would be at the ferry terminal – haha. After some frantic driving around and asking for directions we found the “other” ferry dock and proceeded to check in. The ferry wasn't nearly as big as we had expected – it could only hold about 12 cars and already had an interesting assortment of passengers. Everyone from a group of scruffy flannel-wearing guys who were going to the island for some dirt-biking and fishing (things we thought you could do much more cheaply on the mainland) to a management consultant for HP New Zealand who was headed for a weekend of diving and spear-fishing.
We set sail on time at 7am, just as dawn was breaking over the city and it was gorgeous.
I was a little worried about getting seasick, but I needn't have been – the water was smooth as glass.
The ferry ride takes about four and half hours, so we spent about half our time up on the second deck watching the islands go by, and the other half sitting in the van (more comfortable than the lounge.) Although we did sit in the lounge long enough to eat the steak pies we'd bought – inadvertently torturing a very good dog that was on board and sitting directly across from us. In fact we must have been torturing everyone because not ten minutes after we ate our pies, half the lounge went down and bought their own! Like we said before... the pies are really good here :)
The views were spectacular – we sailed past lots of islands and the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula (where we went a few weeks before). I thought it was an island at first – until I recognized our campground!
And the approach into Tryphena Harbour was stunning. Amazing patterns on the water that I tried to capture with the camera.
By this time we were sitting up at the front of the boat chatting with a really nice woman who used to live on the island and owned a plot of land, but now has to work & live in Auckland so her teenage son can go to school there (no high school on the island). She was coming back for a week's vacation with her younger son and we discussed what it's like to live in such a remote area.
As we approached the harbour, we were surprised by how small the dock was for the ferry – but they had no trouble maneuvering the ferry into place.
As we waited we saw a huge ray lurking under the dock – he must have been at least 4 feet across. Then before we knew it, we were back in the van and driving onto the island!
First order of business was lunch – so we stopped at one of the first little coves and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (our favorite...ugh) and enjoyed the beautiful day. Then we drove into “central” Tryphena and explored the cove and the few little shops there. We met a teenager on the beach who was collecting seaweed in a wheelbarrow for his mother's garden.
After fooling around in Tryphena, we made our way across the island on the very windy roads to our campground for the night at Medlands Beach. This is a lovely sandy beach and we walked along it til sunset... this is the life :)
3 comments:
It looks like the dog forgave you after all.
The island sounds wonderful. The idea of living somewhere so secluded has a lot of appeal right now. I probably wouldn't think so after I'd been there for a while, I guess.
Hey there Tini,
Why was that boy collecting seaweed for his mother's garden? Mulch or...actually can't think of anything other than mulch....
You two look so happy!!!!
yep, the seaweed was for mulch. we asked someone about it later too - if it was too salty to put on the garden right away, but apparently it's not a problem.
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