RICHES OF THE TUTUKAKA COAST Ebook

PROLOGUE:

WILD LIFE AND ADVENTURE ON THE TUTUKAKA COAST  

Twice in my life I've had the luck to find treasure.  Back in 1968 the Elingamite wreck up in the far north yielded such a hoard of silver and gold Kelly Tarlton and I were able to devote our lives to diving.  We set up our families in a big house in Matapouri Bay and started exploring the adjacent coast and the Poor Knights Islands underwater.  Three decades later I can see how those dusky old treasure coins and the book I wrote on their salvage became the key to getting my diving wife Jan and myself to the Tutukaka Coast and our next major treasure find.

After writing a score of books about our sea adventures [www.wadedoak.com] and making natural history documentaries for T.V.N.Z. Jan and I decided to explore thoroughly the amazing coastal stretch we had been diving for so long.  Working on programmes for network TV can be frustrating because only a broad overview can be given.  We wanted to get right down to detail and photograph and video it all underwater: the fishes and marine life and then document all the diversity of life on land and in the mangrove estuaries.  Only then could we prove our deep conviction: every person who sets out to explore the Tutukaka Coast will discover himself or herself truly to be a millionaire!  Because of our region's thoughtful system of Public Reserves at so many strategic places we all live on an enormous piece of coastal real estate; and have access to a fabulous treasure: the finest bits of maritime scenery this planet can provide; a rich hoard of livings things and adventures galore.  I realise these are pretty bold claims to be making but the proof is in the pudding.  We have made a huge effort to document it all with words, photos and video over a period of forty years.

As our books testify, Jan and I have explored coral reefs, atolls and sand cays from the Bahamas to the South Pacific, Hawaii, Melanesia, Polynesia and the Great Barrier Reef.  Nowhere is there a solitary pinnacle of delight.  But there are plateaux of superbness and this adventure coast of ours is certainly one of them. During our work we kept discovering new wonders.  It just kept on getting better and better.  At the outset we thought we knew this coast pretty well but now we are totally smitten with it; the infatuation of a first love affair…

We have now explored coastal vantage points from the Tutukaka lighthouse summit, Wellingtons Reserve trig station and the curving, sand-gleaming beaches at Matapouri, Woolley’s Bay and Whangaumu; we’ve penetrated the tunnel at the back of Marsden Cove to reach the Mermaid Pool and entered the big hollow tree at Whale Bay and sipped sepia whisky at the Soda Spring and measured the giant kauri Tane Moana behind Tutukaka.  From Matapouri Bridge we glided up a crystal clear, high tide boulevard flanked by mangrove trees, fishes and shrimps darting among their branches, flounder skimming the sand.  And after sundown we have explored the frantic nightlife of a Ngunguru estuary reef where a tropical convict grouper lurked.

At dusk out in the low tide estuary from former Ngunguru motor camp, [best place for sunsets] the wading birds of Pimanu are silhouetted on rippling black velvet as beaks probe and spear prey:  All is silent now but for the liquid plop of a rapier beak or the shrill warning cries of a bossy oystercatcher.  Upstream the sun, bound for Aussie, sends out spokes of light over the steep dome of Cape Horn and the Old Cemetery. 

At dawn a silver carpet extends from Cabbage Tree Bay 25 kilometres across to the boldly silhouetted Poor Knights.  There is no wind.  The tide is low.  Twin arms of the bay seem to reach for the offshore islands.  The whole, forested haven with its elaborate, bush shrouded Maori pa site, is holding its breath.  Perhaps, because of its long association with Stone Age humans who left so little impression on the landscape, this seems to me the most spiritual place on the coast and its wilderness values are supreme.  I imagine that unique full moon night in the year when brown eyes surrounded by tattooed faces look out along a river of silver to where Marama is rising in the gap between two islands, each not quite a perfect reflection of the other.

After a lifetime exploring the marvels of marine life, the cameras of two veteran divers recorded, month by month the moving feast of coastal forests, their trees, flowers and berries.  On rugged, exposed promontories, especially at Whale Bay and Tutukaka Lighthouse Reserve, Jan and I poked our lenses at fragile and delicate sun orchids, magenta, cornflower blue or pure white. We marvelled at the unexpected beauty of such tiny, insignificant blooms.  That is an important aspect of the New Zealand bush, probably because of the nature of the pollinators: there are so many inconspicuous flowerings, especially rewarding to the keen eyed discoverer.  Hidden jewels.  Not so the gorgeous gold of the kowhais, the virginal white of the clematis and the eye candy crimson of pohutukawas.  Our explorations have tried to inventory all the coastal vegetation for the visitor, establishing each plant and then zooming in closer than the unaided eye can see.

Then, to provide further insight into nature’s diverse riches in this district, complementary to that in the adjacent sea, we set about documenting the birds, butterflies and moths; beetles, wetas and other insects; spiders, flies and geckoes, along with the herbs, reeds and grasses; fungi, lichens and mosses.  We added all this to our extensive archive of marine life at the Poor Knights and on the adjacent Tutukaka Coast garnered over forty years of diving.  A compendium that, while not exhaustive, presents a pretty detailed and unique overview of the big picture on our coast, above and  below water.

Looking back on it all now I recall that Jan and I got a great many pleasant shocks.  So many new discoveries in an area we thought familiar to us.  So much more for the traveller to enjoy with a little guidance.  My second time to find treasure: the Tutukaka Coast.

CHAPTERS:

PROLOGUE: WILD LIFE AND ADVENTURE ON THE TUTUKAKA COAST  

1  HEADLAND SUNRISE: TUTUKAKA LIGHTHOUSE

2  BIRTH OF THE TUTUKAKA COAST

3  MATAPOURI BAY

 4  MARSDEN COVE

5  PEBBLY BEACH

6  WHALE BAY

7  DEEP COAST DIVE

 8  ASCENDING THE SLOPE

 9  WHERE WORLDS COLLIDE: TIDE POOLS OF DOLPHIN BAY 

10  UP THE CLIFF

11  SEASONS AT WHALE BAY: A PORTRAIT   

12  TUTUKAKA COAST FORESTS  

13  KOWHAI COAST   

14  BIRD TIME ON THE TUTUKAKA COAST     

15   TE ARAROA THE LONG PATHWAY:

        Pt. 1: TUTUKAKA- MATAPOURI,   

16   TE ARAROA THE LONG PATHWAY:

        Pt. 2: MATAPOURI TO TUTUKAKA           

17  WALKWAY TO BOUGAINVILLE MONUMENT

18   TREES IN THE SEA:

        EXPLORING LIFE IN TUTUKAKA COAST MANGROVES

19  STORM COAST  

20  TUTUKAKA COAST AT DUSK AND DAWN: A CELEBRATION

                                     

21  WHAT TO DO ON THE TUTUKAKA COAST

22  CONCLUSION           

AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:  www.wadedoak.com

Copyright Wade Doak

NGUNGURU RIVER ENTRANCE

BEST OF TUTUKAKA COAST SCENERY, LOCATIONS, WILDLIFE DVD

TUTUKAKA COAST FORESTS 

 

While familiarising ourselves with the coastal trees and shrubs of Whale Bay Reserve at

the same time we were learning to recognise all those in our own piece of forest, some

five kilometres from the coast but running out to the tidal Ngunguru River.  Over many

years Jan and I had developed extensive picture files of the marine life on this coast and

up in its mangrove estuaries.  Now, in the forest exploration phase of our lives,

equipped with digital cameras, we could afford to document each plant as a journey

through its life cycle, from seedling to bloom.  Guided by a check list of plants recorded

for our ecological region and aided by local experts Guy Bowden, Lisa Forester and our

Forest and Bird friends, we set out to locate each species and trace its annual cycle.  Our

computer built up a huge file which is easy to extend, revise and upgrade.

 

Gradually our want list induced us to explore further a field, checking out the Hugh

Crawford Memorial Reserve, Bratty’s Bush Reserve, the Soda Spring Reserve and

other Tutukaka coast forest remnants until we had completed our digital data base.

Besides trees and shrubs, it includes vines, ferns, orchids, grasses [ etc.], herbs, fungi

and lichens [etc].  By this stage we had become painfully aware there were certain plants

on the Tutukaka Coast that are rare or restricted to a few locations.

 

At Woolley's Bay one spring day (mid-October) I sighted what I thought was an

amazingly early pohutukawa in bloom.  Out on a branch a host of bees were feasting on

vivid red star burst blossoms.  This I discovered was a M. carminea rata vine.  I know of

only two others in this area.

 

On the slopes of Whale Bay our plant list expanded when, in late October, we

discovered the lemon-scented clematis C. foetida with its delicate strings of pale yellow

flowers; a new record for the area.  Nearby were hybrid lancewoods and, where the hill

meets the flats, dozens of healthy bushes of N.Z. gloxinia Rhabdothamnus.  Along the

main track in early November the fragrant native jasmine has pendant blooms that

develop into long black seed pods like skinny beans.  The vine spirals so tightly around

its host tree it leaves a continuous groove up its trunk.

 

At Matapouri on a steep slope we found a few tree tutu bushes, so abundant in forests

further north. And on the flat below, a strange puriri with pure white flowers rather than the

 usual pink.  On a rock outcrop near the beach, Melicytus novae-zelandiae another

rarity in this area.  Around the cliffs were karo with their dusk scented deep red flowers;

on a hill ridge was an aged ngaio, leaves dotted with tiny oil glands; and in forest behind

the estuary, a solitary hard beech, Notofagus truncata fell out of a land slip.  In two beach

areas we found the fuchsia, F. procumbens with cornflower blue and golden flowers,

exquisite enough to die for.  Beside the road south a small group of rare tree daisies,

Olearia solandri which bear masses of minute starry white flowers in mid-April.

 

At the Soda Spring Reserve, after having a refreshing soda drink from the bubbling

forest edge spring, we found nearby a massive puka vine writhing up an ancient totara,

along with several big ratas.  Possums delight in feasting on the lush, broad leaves of

puka.  Their hosts are a sign of old growth trees.  Such mighty vines with their distinctive

ribbed stems are becoming all too rare a sight.

 

On Tutukaka Lighthouse Reserve close to the lighthouse itself, is a perfectly spherical,

wind-compacted haekaro, P. umbellatum along with several rare shrubs.  The Bowden

property just to the north has a patch of rare king ferns, poataniwha shrubs and a very

rare coastal maire tree.

 

Around the shores of Tutukaka Harbour we were staggered to find a group of grass

trees, Dracophyllum on a forgotten ridge; a mountain maire above the marina;

snowberry shrubs on terraces above the car park and in a sequestered corner,

a rare colony of Pratia (Colensoa) a lobelia-like native, with big soft leaves and blue-purple

flowers and berries.

TANE MOANA IN 1972

 

In a small D.O.C. Reserve just behind Tutukaka, stands the GIANT KAURI: Tane Moana. Jan and I measured it carefully.  A metre above ground level its girth is 11.16 metres.  It would be over a thousand years old.  While not as tall, its girth is as great as some of the famous trees in Waipoua Forest.

 

In Ngunguru Reserve behind the public library the forks of a few pohutukawa trees

support epiphytic shrubs of P. cornufolium, with their attractive scarlet seed capsules.

 

Up the river we have found a ngaio tree, brilliant M. fulgens rata and several grass trees.  A

mountain maire and P. umbellatum both extend from the bush over salt water.

Up stream, where fresh water begins near the Scow Landing, we found a huge titoki on

the river bank and a grove of sturdy ribbonwoods Plagianthus regius out in a paddock.

Scattered through the area we know of a few hinau, pukatea, Kirk's daisy; tawa, miro:

matai, kawaka, akeake, tarata, tawapou and kohuhu; all sporadic or rare.  The whau tree,

lightest wood in the world and once an attractive part of this coastal forest, has now

vanished from the wild, but one lives on the saddle  to Pebbly Beach.

 

At odd secluded places along Ngunguru estuary we have discovered rare colonies of mairehau bushes, their refreshingly aromatic leaves, stunning white flowers and red berries make me wonder why such a lovely native plant should become so scarce and forgotten.

 

Northland forests are especially diverse because they support species with sub tropical

origins as well as temperate climate trees.  The Tutukaka Coast is part of an ecological

district extending north to the Bay of Islands and south almost to Whangarei Heads, in

which forest types vary in a rich mosaic of patches.  There are steep slopes and ridges

where tanekaha, totara and kanuka are dominant.  Elsewhere, kauri, towai and taraire.

Puriri and taraire may predominate in a gully.  There are slopes which are mainly towai

mixed with rewarewa and puriri.  A ridge may have a predominant stand of rimu.  In

some areas, like the view from my window, there is a nice mixture of kaihikatea, rimu,

kauri, totara, karaka, puriri, kohekohe, rewarewa, kanuka, nikau, cabbage trees and tree

ferns.  Similar locations are sprinkled with northern rata, and the occasional kawaka, tawa,

pukatea, matai, miro or lancewood.

 

Some trees, like rimu and kaihikatea, have regular conical forms. Others, such as taraire,

kohekohe and kauri, have a sprawling canopy.  This creates variations in light access that

offer opportunities for smaller trees as a second canopy or understorey.  Depending on

situation this may include pigeonwood, tree fuchsia, houhere, kowhai, red matipo

(mapou), five finger, pate, hangehange, mamangi and kanuka.  On forest margins and in

light wells there is an edge community that may include kumarahou, mingimingi,

kawakawa, poroporo, korokia, hebe, rangiora, wharangi, tree daisy, manuka, taupata,

karamu and other small coprosmas; the bush daphne Alseuosmia ; the N.Z. gloxinia

Rhabdothamnus; cabbage trees of two species and flax.  Then, there are all the vines and other plants...

 

I am deeply alarmed at the number of New Zealand plants we have found that are

marginal or threatened.  What are the causes of this serious loss of biodiversity?  A

great many of our New Zealand trees are berry producers and have male and female forms:dioecious.  Lack of birds to distribute them and gender isolation would be major factors.  More than a century of forest clearance and burn offs hit this land hard.  Another

factor would be a lack of pollinators: birds, geckos and fruit bats.  Scarcity of available

habitat would be another.  People developing life-style blocks and wishing to

revegetate could have a major positive effect here if they were aware of the appropriate

plants and their habitat needs.  The current trend towards vigorous pest control on the Tutukaka Coast will reap huge benefits for all the pollinators, seed distributors and plants.

 

One of my green neighbours, to his horror, almost cut down the biggest, most

umbrageous putaputaweta tree I have ever seen, thinking it was a privet.  Another, a

great lover of plants, was half way through demolishing a magnificent native kohia passionfruit vine believing it was an exotic, accursed wind-spread moth plant.  We New Zealanders are often unfamiliar with many of our finest plants and risk losing them forever as our forests become bird silent; our landscape exotic.  The Tutukaka Coast has an immense future as a refugium: an oasis of wildlife belonging to the ancient world of Gondwana.

COPPER BUTTERFLY

 BEST OF TUTUKAKA COAST

 

000 BEST SCENERY

001BEST TREES

002 BEST VINES

003 BEST ORCHIDS

004 BEST FERNS

005 BEST HERBS

006 BEST FUNGI etc

007 BEST BIRDS

008 BEST REPTILES etc

009 BEST LAND INVERTEBRATES

010 BEST FISH TUTUKAKA COAST /POOR KNIGHTS

011 BEST MARINE INVRTS TUTUKAKA COAST /POOR KNIGHTS

012 BEST MANGROVES

DVD DISC available: www.wadedoak.com

GREEN GECKO

MIROMIRO

ESTUARINE TRIPLEFIN

EXPLORE THE TUTUKAKA COAST: Walks, Locations, Wildlife-on DVD

Now you are on the Tutukaka Paradise Coast, a smorgasbord of

amazing adventures awaits you.  This itinerary could be pursued with lots of rewarding walking or, for the less mobile, a series of car accessible picnic stops.  The route outlined here could be approached in any sequence but for map purposes follows a trail from north to south.  A drive along the rollicking curves of the Kaiatea Rd with some pleasant music soon brings you to Sandy Bay, top surfing beach.  Cross a small bridge to McCauslin Rd, and wind up to a spur graced by a striking seashell spiral house where Daisy Bay invites you to explore its solitudes and enjoy splendid Poor Knights Island views-or take a serious four hour stroll up to Whananaki on the well marked D.O.C. Walkway via the secluded and lovely Calm Bay and the Bougainville Monument.

Don’t forget Woolley’s Bay as you cruise this headland coast southwards.  From its carpark you stroll along the dunes to a snug western corner: a well concealed lagoon and a rock citadel where seagulls nest in spring.  Or walk the other way at low tide, crossing tiny Staffa Bay to rock hop under the shag colonies.

On to one of the pearls of this coast: Whale Bay Reserve, where a well maintained network of tracks offer a chocolate box set of choices: unforgettable Whale Bay with pohutukawa boughs over the sand for seating: a west facing beach so striking at dusk.  Or, for the more adventurous, cross over the ridge to east-facing Cabbage Tree Bay: rock pools, caves, a Maori pa: and a profoundly spiritual ambience.  You can even follow the cliff edge track over to the north end of Matapouri Bay.  Or drive there.

Now at Matapouri: another set of delightful choices: follow the curving sea brink round to a low saddle through to Pebbly Beach and let its semi-precious stones warm your body after a swim; or carry on around Matapouri Beach to Marsden Cove where a track leads to a tunnel which rebirths you in a rocky cove with an island and leads out to the deep Mermaid Pool on the ocean headland.  As you leave Matapouri dont overlook the crystal clear estuary: at high tide an upstream snorkel from the bridge provides an experience like a coral reef excursion: very clear water and fishes swimming through mangrove tree branches. 

As you head south towards Tutukaka a road marked “Private” leads out to a public reserve with another rich medley of beaches: from the Lighthouse Reserve car park a good track leads out to the Lighthouse a superb jaunt with well made steps in steep places and, at the summit: panoramic views of the entire headland coast that induce ecstasy on a fine day.  On its north side this track offers a side path down to a very secluded beach: Rocky Bay or, south of the carpark: a tunnel track through bush down to Beck’s Bay where kauri trees stand on the cliffs and native copper butterflies flit.

Tutukaka Harbour itself offers a series of pleasantly sheltered little

beaches: a handy one at the end of the marina; then along the south side of the harbour: Church Bay with its grand old pohutukawa; Kowharewa Bay, with good car side picnic facilities; and Pacific Bay: pleasant for snorkeling; sunny at day’s end.  At night, a funky scuba dive.  Kayak hire offers you the entire harbour including Phillip Island out in the middle, with its tiny beach.  It is an old volcano plug named after the first man to map this coast.

The route leads out to Dolphin Road: a quick hike up steps to the summit Wellington’s Reserve trig station with incredible panoramic views of ocean and coastline; or down the “Beach Access” right-of-way to Dolphin Bay Beach, best at low tide when a rich array of deep tide pools can be explored.  Snorkeling here is at its finest. 

The road continues out to Whangaumu Beach [=Wellington’s Bay] with pleasant access parks at each end.  This beach is ideal when winds blow from the norwest.  At low tide you can skirt the coast to the east through an adventurous series of rocky coves backed by bush-clad cliffs.

At the west end the Ngunguru Walking Track, passable at low tide, skirts an enchanted coast to Te Maika Rd, Ngunguru through a series of intimate coves and rocky citadels.  Near the start, up on a ridge, is a seat to relax on and contemplate the view of Ngunguru Bay and the river bar.

But let us back-track: descending into the bay, on the left is a handsome sign: Tutukaka Estates that leads up to a carpark whence you have public access through the iron security gate to a mind-blowing summit picnic spot: and nearby a loop track down through spectacular wind–compressed bush.  Out in Ngunguru Bay diveboats are moored above the wreck of the frigate Waikato.  From this summit at sunset the views across Pimanu, the Ngunguru Sandspit and up the Ngunguru estuary through the twilight are a technicolour movie.

Back on the main road down into Ngunguru: a quiet moment on the walking bridge across Mill Creek Reserve in a mangrove glade where herons stalk.  At dusk, low tide, the Ngunguru estuary wading birds are easily approached as they probe and spear: oystercatchers, stilts and herons. 

By the library the easily overlooked Ngunguru Estuary Walkway skirts mangroves and a cavalcade of mighty pohutukawas to a lawn where monarch butterflies hatch and dry their wings on the grass, pukekos graze  by a raupo swamp and perching lilies bloom up in the tree branches.

Just across the road from Ngunguru Hall, Snells Point Reserve provides a wilderness experience right on the doorstep: a special place to visit at dawn or dusk, when the river bend is all yours.

Down Papaka Rd, by the former motor camp, is another sunset viewing spot, before you cruise back to your Toots coast accomodation and its canopy of brilliant stars.  Or, on a low tide day, from here you can walk the firm sand estuary shore up to the Old Cemetery at Cape Horn and explore its tumbled graveyard.  Local guides will show you the way to our own giant kauri tree, Tane Moana, 11.40 m. in circumference;  or to the bizarre and tasty Soda Spring; or several rich and complex native forest reserves.

Toots coast addicts can return and explore adjacent delights: cruise the historic Ngunguru River with Captain Percy or explore Tahere Falls Reserve [20 minutes away]: a river canyon of vertical forest; explore Abbey Caves, its limestone sculptures and glow worms; or ascend Parahaki Mountain from Dundas Rd, right in the city [30 mins]; or spiral around mighty Mt Manaia’s forested flanks to it spectacular craggy summit [60 mins over exciting Mt Tiger Rd].  Then Whangarei Heads at Ocean Beach offers a challenge: as wild as an offshore island and very similar in vegetation.  Surfers and divers love Kauri Mountain at the north end of Ocean Beach.  Kayakers explore Taiharuru estuary, Pataua and Horahora rivers.

Just ninety minutes to the west coast, an easy day trip, you reach the warm, gin clear waters of Kai Iwi Lakes; the stark, raw beauty of Manganui Bluffs and the richest forests on Earth: multiple tracks through Waipoua Forest kauri glades to meet the largest tree in the world: Tane Mahuta and father of forest: Te Ngahere or meditate in the forest cathedral by the vast Yakas kauri.

 Tutukaka Coast provides you with a hub to explore the north.  You can easily be at Cape Reinga by lunchtime.

 Besides  presenting  the best walks and locations on the Tutkaka Coast our disc  surveys the rain forests and mangroves; the birds and the coastal fishes.

 Contact us per www.wadedoak.com

 Wade Doak copyright

TUTUKAKA COAST ODYSSEY-the DVD film

                   

...During our filming we kept discovering new wonders.  It just kept on getting better and better.  At the outset we thought we knew this coast pretty well but now we are totally smitten with it; the infatuation of a first love affair…

DVD DISC available: www.wadedoak.com

 

After filming stunning coastal panoramas from Tutukaka lighthouse summit, Wellingtons Reserve trig station or curving sand-gleam beaches at Matapouri and Woolley's Bay; penetrating a tunnel at the back of Marsden Cove or entering a big hollow tree at Whale Bay we gathered sequences such as divers descending on the funnel of Waikato, a sunken warship, sliding through hatches, along passages, the wheelhouse, a pair of big gun barrels, a propeller at thirty metres on the sea floor.  Or from Matapouri bridge gliding up a crystal clear, high tide boulevard flanked by mangrove trees, fishes and shrimps darting among their branches, flounder skimming the sand.  Or the frantic nightlife of a Ngunguru estuary reef where a tropical convict grouper lurks.  We join the frenzy and rhythm and festive joy of a major waka ama race day at Kowharewa Bay; skim wave crests with board riders at Sandy Bay, or stack out on keeler yachts racing down to Goat Island in a stiff offshore breeze.  Kids zigzag their frisky Optimist dinghies across Whangaumu Bay at Sunday sailing school.  And everywhere are jaunty, bright coloured kayaks.  We've learnt that nowadays kayak prows are probing every secluded nook and rock passage along this enchanted coast, up estuaries, across broad bays, around deepwater promontories and each adventurer finds his or her own private universe…

 

At dusk out in the low tide estuary from the former Ngunguru motor camp on Papaka Rd, [best place for sunsets] the wading birds are silhouetted on rippling black velvet as beaks probe and spear prey:  All is silent now but for the liquid plop of a rapier beak or the shrill warning cries of a bossy oystercatcher.  Upstream the sun, bound for Aussie, sends out spokes of light over the steep dome of Cape Horn and the Old Cemetery. 

 

At dawn a silver carpet extends from Cabbage Tree Bay 25 k to the silhouetted Poor Knights.  There is no wind. The tide is low.  Twin arms of the bay seem to reach for the offshore islands.  The whole, forested haven with its elaborate, bush-shrouded Maori pa site, is holding its breath. Perhaps, because of its long association with Stone Age humans who left so little impression on the landscape, this seems to me the most spiritual place on the coast and its wilderness values are supreme.  I imagine that unique full moon night in the year when brown eyes surrounded by tattooed faces look out along a river of silver to where Marama is rising in the gap between two islands, each not quite a perfect reflection of the other.

 

On rugged, exposed promontories, especially at Whale Bay and Tutukaka Lighthouse Reserve, Jan and I poked our lenses at fragile and delicate sun orchids, magenta, cornflower blue or pure white.  After a lifetime exploring the marvels of marine life, the cameras of two veteran divers recorded, month by month the moving feast of coastal forest flowers as we marvelled at the unexpected beauty of such tiny, insignificant blooms.  That is an important aspect of the New Zealand bush, probably because of the nature of the pollinators: there are so many inconspicuous flowerings, especially rewarding to the keen eyed discoverer.  Hidden jewels.  Not so the gorgeous gold of the kowhais, the virginal white of the clematis and the eye candy crimson of pohutukawas.  Our film tries to inventory them all for the visitor, establishing each tree and then zooming in closer than the unaided eye can see.

 

Looking back on it all now I recall that Jan and I got a great many pleasant shocks.  So many new discoveries in an area we thought familiar to us.  So much more for the traveller to enjoy with a little guidance.

DVD DISC available: www.wadedoak.com

WAKA AMA AT WHANGAMUMU BAY