We carried on exploring our local surroundings on Saturday. It was amazing.
Do you often explore the area where you live?
After a week of horrendous weather, we woke up and saw the sun shining down on us and knew we weren’t staying in. No point in wasting a beautiful day!
This time we headed in the other direction and made our way out to a place called Monkey Island. It’s another beach but very different to last weeks one.
Excuse the lack of photos from this encounter (and the poor quality), our camera batteries died as I went to snap the first picture (doh!) and I had limited space on my cellphone.
Monkey Island is the ideal family beach haven. Once you get past the first metre of the beach where it seems to have a lingering smell of effluence that is… Does anyone know why it smells so bad in that one spot?
The water is perfect for introducing children to swimming in the ocean. There are no rough waves, just a gentle lapping in a still, windless surrounding. I didn’t see it this time around but my son tells me there’s a huge slide built on the side of a little mountain there, where you walk up one side and slide down into the water on the other. I can neither confirm nor deny this claim.
Children were playing all around, my kids were digging a giant hole…what is with boys and holes? Some young girls had brought along their kayaks and were trying to get the hang of going with the waves on their way in. It looked so fun! There were go karts and four wheelers going up and down the beach too. It’s just a really cool place to hang out.
It’s also a freedom camping site so for those of you whole have a tent, go spend some time there! I know we really wanted to. It sparked talks of purchasing ourselves our own tent for summers to come.
The boys wanted to spend all day there, they were getting mucky. It makes me so happy to see the children getting right on in there, playing in the dirt, like little kids should!
We had made plans to visit a few sites though, so we all piled back into the car and made our way to the next stop, Gemstone Beach.
We didn’t get out of the car here. It was a rather frightening, very powerful looking swell. It’s just around the corner from Monkey Island but you could see so many rips in the water. The sand just seemed to bank off and you could tell that the water turned deep, really quickly.
Stones from Gemstone Beach- Click for photo source
Gemstone Beach was sandy, not one single stone was visible to us. It has the name Gemstone Beach because each day the surface of the beach is different. Sometimes when you go there, there are gemstones piled high, other days, there’s no sight of their existance. Today was one of those days.
Solander Island - Click for photo source
We carried on up the gorgeous country roads until we came to McCrackens Rest. From McCrackens Rest you can see a place called Solander Island.
The story goes, that a sealing boat dropped four men off to go sealing on the island but never returned for them. It wasn’t until four years later, a ship named The Perseverance saw them waving from the shores of the island, and stopped to pick them up. Can you imagine being stranded on an island for four years? Do you think you’d survive?
It was time for lunch/dinner by then. We’d lost track of time. We headed into Tuatapere and bought the typical kiwi meal – fish n chips. Don’t worry, it was my cheat day hehe.
We stopped at a spot called the Tuatapere Domain but really…it was just a rugby feild. Nevertheless, we got out of the car and had a picnic beside the river. The novelty of a cute little picnic by the river wore off quickly as we started getting swarmed by sand flies. We were spending more time swatting than we were eating our meal, so we ate quickly and jumped back in the car. As we drove off we went passed a playground/reserve and cracked up. If only we’d driven 5 more seconds up the road, we could have pulled in there.
Next on our list was Bluecliffs Beach. Yeah, nah. That’s about all I have to say about that…
Apparently whales and dolphins are frequently seen in the water there, and maybe they are but there wasn’t anything there today. The road was shut because some damage had happened during the storm we had a few weeks back.
Back on the road again, this time the drive took a while. We headed out further into the country and to get to where we were going, we had to drive 27km on a dirt road. By then I was getting a bit sleepy, I closed my eyes for literally, 5 minutes, and felt so rejuvenated from the nap. I must admit, I was starting to feel a little cranky on the inside but I didn’t let it show. We finally arrived at our destination, Lake Hauroko. It was totally worth the drive! This was my favourite spot of the day. This place is so peaceful and majestic. You’re right deep in the forest, there are snow topped mountains towering above you in the distance. There is silence.
I don’t know what it was but my family was hypnotised by this space. Everyone was skimming stones and splashing in the water. It was such an amazing atmosphere, no one wanted to leave. Unfortunately, the sand flies were even bigger here and they were attacking us like we were dinner. So big tip for everyone that’s planning on exploring this summer: Take Insect Repellent! We’ll be putting ours in the car from now on, so we don’t get caught out again and can spend all day at the next amazing spot.
Andrew and I love the myths and legends of New Zealand. We’re big on teaching the children to learn about cultures and language, especially those of New Zealand because this is their home and there are a lot of cultural customs that come along with living in a place like NZ. Andrew is Scottish, I’m Samoan/NZ but we are also Kiwi’s through and through. We adore this place. So in the past Andrew and I have chatted about all kinds of tales. This one tale in particular came up today. It’s about a woman, the princess of the lake. We arrived home and realised that we just visited the place in the tale.
I’m about to tell you another story.
If you can see the little island, that's Mary Island.
There is a legend that a Maori princess haunts a small island located in the lake. A place called Mary Island. In 1967 a man named George Evans was going around in his boat, on the lake. He stopped for a drink at Mary Island and decided to explore the openings of a cliff. He climbed a few steps and was startled when he discovered a skeleton, sitting on manuka stakes, covered in a cloak and blocking entrance to the cave. The skeleton is believed to be that of a Maori princess; claimed to be Te Riri Wairua Puru, of Kati Mamoe, who married into the highest family of the Waitaha tribe. A high-ranking woman, aged around 40 and lived in the 17th century.
George Evans discovered one of New Zealand’s oldest and best preserved Maori burial sites. He originally thought he’d stumbled across a murder site.
Although the site was approved for study, not everyone was comfortable with exploring something tapu (sacred).
Apparently a neighbour, a Maori woman, was extremely concerned about what had happened. She predicted that George Evans would soon die, near the water.
On July 24, 1967, Evans suddenly felt unwell and died. He was out floundering in the water.
(The other side of this story is that George Evans was 65 and had been suffering ill health.) Coincidence or curse?
Another, more recent, tale is told about a man and his wife and son, who were out on the lake on a calm day. They were approaching the cliff on Mary Island, which is directly under the burial site, when the water suddenly became too rough to venture any further. It’s said the water changed for no apparent reason. They’d move away from the area and look back, only to see that the water was completely calm. They tried twice more but the same thing kept happening. They gave up and went to the head of the lake instead. They tried one more time, on the way back but the water suddenly became rough again.
Researcher David Mollison, who helped with the Otago University investigation of the site, says “It was either too rough or they were not meant to be there.”
The skeleton still sits there to this day but the entrance is covered with a metal grille. A sign warning passers by is posted up for boaties and trampers, warning them that it’s a Maori burial site and to keep out.
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So after 2 hours – about 1 of them without a hammer, we were all hung and ready for the show. People started coming through and our friend Dayne showed up. We stood around for a while while the crowds came through. We were all pretty hungry, it was dinner time now. I debated whether or not I should leave my spot but I was so hungry we decided it’d be ok if I popped out for just a little bit, it seemed others had as well. We headed to a Japanese restaurant just up the road. The orders seemed to be taking a while so I started to get a bit anxious and had to excuse myself and get my order made to take away because I just couldn’t spend that long away. It sucked I had to leave, sorry guys. I still feel bad. It was fun to be hanging out again, I was really enjoying myself. Took me back to the day we all met! Next time I’ll make sure I have tonnes of time and hopefully Andrew can be there too.
