Sunday 12 July 2015

Kia Ora,

It has been quite cold this last week here in New Zealand.  The sun comes out but if the wind blows (which it usually does) it is very cold.  Especially on our morning walk at 8:00 a.m. to the office and our way home at 5:00 p.m.  During the lunch break when we walk home it is pretty nice.  We do not have central heating just two portable radiator heaters so the flat is pretty cold in the mornings when we get up.  It is usually around 58 degrees Fahrenheit.  We do leave the small radiator heater in the bedroom on during the night on low so it is more bearable to sleep.

On Saturday July 11, 2015 we did all our cleaning and then decided we wanted to go some place we have not been before.  It was cool but sunny so we headed North and a little West to South Head.  We ended up taking a wrong turn but saw some country we had not been to before.



We really enjoy driving and looking at the beautiful countryside.
Reed kept stopping everywhere to take pictures.  He would just all of a sudden stop and pull over.  Nada waited in the car.
This ride was very up and down and curvy roads.  Below is a nice little sectioned off farm.  Reed just loves looking for interesting pictures.

We stopped in Helensville for a few minutes and took some pictures.  This hotel was built in 1882.
The Helensville Post Office built in 1911.  Some old and interesting buildings in this little town.
We see homes with this kind of architecture all over New Zealand.
Beautiful rolling hills with sheep, cows and even sometimes deer farms.
In the picture below you can actually see barns.  We see all these cows and rarely see any barns.

We stopped at Shelly Beach.  We thought from the name it was where you could find a lot of sea shells.  Not true.  Mostly there were a lot of boat trailers there for fishing boats and not too much of a nice beach.  There was a little restaurant, some bathrooms and a long narrow pier where a few people were fishing from.

There is a lot of water everywhere you turn here.
Nada walking out on the pier at Shelly beach.  The wind was pretty cold here.

People were fishing from the pier.  They catch quite a bit of snapper here.
You can see all the trucks and boat trailers.  We only saw two boats out so they must have gone out of the harbour and into the Tasman Sea.  We are assuming they use this old trailer to help haul boats, trailers or cars that get stuck going out to far into the sand to launch.

The hillsides are so interesting here.  We assume it is the rocks underneath the grass that give them that shelve look.
To the right are lots and lots of Manuka trees.  They make Manuka Honey here and a lot of healthy things from the Manuka trees.
We passed a Red Deer farm.  Quite a few of the restaurants have venison on their menus.













Looking into Kaipara Harbour.  There is a North and South Head here.  We drove to the South Head today.  Maybe one day we will drive to the North Head of this harbour but it will probably have to be an overnight trip.
We drove to the end of the road and then parked.  We hiked down to Mosquito Bay.  The trail was very steep.  It was covered with pine needles so it was a little slippery.  It was not too long of a hike just steep.
Nada about half way down the trail to the beach.
This is Mosquito Bay.  There was one other person down here and he was fishing.  They have this little river running out to the bay. They had a one way culvert.  The door would let the water run into the ocean but it closed against the ocean water being able to go back up into the river.  It was very quiet and peaceful.

 We found a Jelly Fish on the beach.
The sand had interesting movement in it.  The sand did not get hard even where it had been wet.  We would sink quite a bit when we walked.
There are some interesting birds here.  This is another type of Oystercatcher.

The trail was fenced off with this turn style to climb over to get in and out.  Probably trying to keep animals out.


Below is a harvested corn field.  There were acres and acres of these cut down corn fields in this area.

We hope you enjoyed our journey to South Head in Kaipara Harbour today.  We had a nice, new adventure. 
There is so much to see and do here. 

We are grateful to be serving in such a beautiful country.  We love our mission, the other missionaries and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are well and doing our best to serve and help the people in the Pacific.  Take care until next time.
Love, Elder and Sister Spencer (aka Reed and Nada)

We wanted to wish our youngest son, Kip, Happy 31st Birthday today, July 13, 2015.  We love him and appreciate he and Jaki and their kids living in our house and taking care of things so we can be here serving The Lord.  Have a great day!


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