Mr. Green Goes to New Zealand

Hi. We're still enjoying the summer weather here at Bethells Beach. We went into the library at Henderson today where I put a bunch more photos onto my Picasa site so I could add them here. I hope it works!

One of many bunnies in our yard. They scare easily, so it took me a few days to actually get a photo of one.

Mr. Green enjoys the green onions at the Pak'n'Save.

This is Chach, the very old dog here.

Mr. Green sits on the lava rock at the Bethells Beach cave. The rock is called pillow lava.

There are eight or nine ducks in the yard most of the time. They are "wild" ducks, but Jane, who lives here, feeds them, so they consider the yard their home. Chach, the old dog, would have chased and killed them when she was a younger dog, but now she just sleeps next to them.

This is a pretty typical little New Zealand downtown.

Look at the splendid view.That's the ocean in the distance. We took a road trip around through Auckland and then back to the coast south of Bethells. This was a view from the car along the way.

A bee on a scotch thistle. Or Scottish thistle?

We went to a lighthouse and these people were there with their identical twins.

Here's Mr. Green at the lighthouse.

There was a big shipwreck near the site of the lighthouse back in the 1800s. Here's a painting that is on the wall inside the lighthouse, showing the shipwreck. Isn't that an eerie hand?

Here's more scenery on that road trip. See the cows at the top of that hill?

Here's a little church with a local graveyard behind it.

We went down to a beach at Awhitu Regional Park near the lighthouse, and this was on the walk to the beach.

Mr. Green enjoyed the beach.

There were lots of really nice shells on the beach there. There aren't many on the beach at Bethells.

Here's the view from the beach. There's a tiny island just off the beach.

There were a couple of little kids there and we asked them to hold Mr. Green for a photo.

"Keep New Zealand Beautiful!"

Here's Mr. Green again.

This part of an airplane was in a field beside the road. John said it was a Bristol Freighter. The whole front opened up and you could drive vehicles right into it.

This is Steve standing in front of the house we're staying in with Jane and John.

Here's Steve with Mr. Green in his backpack.

Jane and Steve and Mr. Green on a hike.

Horses on the hike.

Mr. Green really liked this horse. I was a bit worried the horse would EAT Mr. Green.

The view of the stream going into the ocean at Bethells Beach.

Looking back towards the dunes that are inland from Bethells Beach.

Here's the beach.

This is the next beach up from Bethells, going North. It's called O'Neill's.

These islands are between O'Neill's and Bethells.

Chach is very old so a big walk is a challenge for her.

This is John and Chach. Chach has a big growth on her side.

Mr. Green on a big metal telephone pole on the hiking trail. The trail is called the Hilary Trail, named after Sir Edmond Hilary, a famous New Zealander.

Chach at the stream and the sand dunes.

Looking north on Bethells Beach.

Another shot of looking north on Bethells Beach.

More pillow lava.

Jane and Steve in front of John's sister Kathy's huge flowering cactus.

Jane placing Mr. Green up on a tower of pillow lava,

Here he is!

John and Jane and their grandson Isaac.

This is the tree in Jane and John's yard with the rope swing on it.

This is the stream you can walk in for about a mile in bare feet. It takes you from the ocean to Wainamu Lake, a fresh water lake that's inland from the ocean and has been there for thousands of years.

Another shot of the stream...

Horses on the hill alongside the stream near Wainamu Lake. Isn't it neat how they've worn steps into the hillside?

These are the sand dunes. There is a person walking along the top so you get a sense of the scale. They are HUGE.

Here's a panoramic shot of the sand dunes from up on top of them just before we got to the lake.

The sand dunes with the rolling hills beyond them.

Chach on the dunes, but you can see Wainamu Lake behind her.

The lake.

We hiked around the lake. The sign said it would take an hour, but I think it took more like two hours. On one side of the lake the path was the gummiest stickiest mud I've ever walked in. When we got through that area, my shoes had picked up so much mud that each one must have weighed five pounds. It took me AGES to get the mud cleaned off when we got home.

Here's another view of the lake.

There is a grove of giant macrocarpa trees at one end of the lake. Jane says that they aren't native to New Zealand but were brought in because if you plant a row of them near your house they provide a good wind-break. So whenever you see a whole group of them together, it means there used to be a homestead there.