Waitawa Regional Park in Auckland is one of the newest Regional Parks for the city…it’s also quite close to where I grew up so we took advantage of this fact and took daddy’s new car (a Plymouth Fury…if you’re into classic cars) for a drive or two to check out Waitawa Regional Park.
I should point out that daddy doesn’t like to take the car out if it’s going to rain…and he’d just had it polished for a princely sum of $200 (Dad jokes that this car is going to eat up our inheritance!)…the weather was playing ball one evening and we headed out for a drive along the coast just before dusk…
…and we took a few photos…
…normal, sensible photos that you’re use to seeing of my family of course…
…nothing crazy!
As this was our first visit to Waitawa Regional Park, we didn’t know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised about how beautiful the views were over the coastline from different spots in the Park. It’s not far away from Duder Regional Park which is located between Clevedon and Maraetai if you fancy checking out a couple of Auckland’s Regional Parks in one day….Hunua Falls is my other favourite spot in the area but a distance from these two parks.
We stopped off on the way home at Clevedon for an ice-cream…classic kiwi flavours, Orange Chocolate Chip and Goody Goody Gum Drops…
…you can’t leave New Zealand without trying these flavours…it’s considered a sin and you’ll never be let back into the country.
Of course we washed the ice cream down with a bit of Whittakers chocolate (the best chocolate in the world…Nigella loves it as well…she probably seductively licks the wrapper!)…I was catching up on a lot of Kiwi goodness…and check out the packaging…it matches the seats of the Fury.
Dad hooned through the streets…
…he may have dropped a wheelie and was told off by mummy in the back seat who was still crapping bricks as the car is just a tad too big for her…
…she may have gotten over this fear and took it for a drive around a car park recently…only to be stopped by the police for chat as they thought she had stolen the car….my mum, the smiling car stealing criminal who giggles too much.
We decided to head back to Waitawa Regional Park after our South Island road trip to enjoy an Autumn Picnic at the beach…it was swarming with folks (not!)...
…for some reason I don’t have many photos of our picnic bar one of Lisa reading and mum prepping the buns (sorry Wally!).
After our picnic scoff-fest…I had a walk along the coast, checking out the bird life…
…from a distance as I’m afraid of birds…
…and enjoying how mild autumns and winters are in Auckland (they are slightly more golden in Arrowtown in the South Island)…
…I went to find Daddy who was fishing…
…there were quite a few families out fishing as it was Easter Monday…
…the wharf offers great views over Kawakawa Bay and the waters around this area were known as the Waka Highway many moons ago…a Maori Pa used to sit on this piece of land.
Waitawa Regional Park was opened to the public a few years ago as it was used to manufacture and store explosives in the 1950’s…weird but true for little old Green New Zealand but there you go…
…it was decommissioned and can now be enjoyed by you and me!
Dad and G were not fish whisperers that day…
…we left empty handed fish wise but we took all our rubbish home with us as we’re tidy kiwis! Make sure you do the same if you’re visiting New Zealand.
I think it’s safe to say that the Fury was used a lot during our stay including to take us to the airport due to our copious amounts of luggage…G bought quite a few pieces of clothing…
…Dad took us for a drive out to Maraetai which is just a bit further around the coast from Waitawa Regional Park and offers fabulous views over to Rangitoto Island…
…an Auckland icon!
We took some photos of the Plymouth Fury in the autumn sunshine….
…with the blue sparkling water behind it!
xx
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