#Matakatia beach

[polwarth]

That's Sky Tower, and downtown Auckland, seen from Matakatia Beach

[cassieslifethroughthelens]

Moody Night Strolls

Matakatia Beach, New Zealand 

March 24th, 2017

[rorytait]

Matakatia

With university done for the year, I went up to Matakatia for a few days to stay with a friend at his family's bach. 

We had a fairly mixed bag of (mostly poor) weather, but when blue did appear in the sky we went for some wanders around the bays and I managed to take some photos.

Matakatia is a small beach on a very shallow bay on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, about an hour north of Auckland. Once upon a time it would've been a world away from the city, but today the area is really just a commuter suburb. 

Fortunately that means it is still rather quiet during the day, which made for a very restful trip after exams.

The water was such an incredible blue colour that is so iconically New Zealand. 

I really quite liked the pair of Norfolk Island Pines in the photo above, they just stood out among the landscape... it was quite hard to pick my favourite photo of them, so I've uploaded a couple in this post! 

[vikeith2]

Tuesday

I only really had 1/2 day left so I opted to see more beaches! At us and I had collected quite a few shells this week so we had a mission! It was a good chance for Marcus to see more of them anyway!

We started off at matakatia beach. Of course we found more shells . Tindalls beach was next. Here we hit gold as far as sea life. Walking along the water, Marcus found a total of 2 live starfish. One guy was in bad shape- a bit dry so he’d been out of the water for a bit. He carried the poor guy to the rocky area hoping he would latch on but Marcus landed up putting him in the water. We hope he was able to stay in the water ☹️. We kept walking and he spotted another starfish out of the waves but in much better condition. Marcus carried it all the way to the wave pools and found a safe haven 😊. Yea!

We kept walking when suddenly Marcus says “ whoa-what is that?” Thinking it was an eel or something I wouldn’t like, I walk over and he found a large creature, about 12 in., out of the water. It looked like a sea slug to me- long body with the antenna like snails. He had folds of skin covering the inner body ( kind of like a cape). He felt soft but slimy and could curl into himself. Waayyy cool! Marcus was brave to pick it up, (stating that there were no poisonous things in NZ and put it back into the water tucked under a crevice. Then I saw another creature under the rock ! It was another snail! Yea! We brought the two back together! saved! On this beach there were also a ton of oyster shells- Piha- on the beach. I got to thinking that maybe I could make an art project out of the shells so I collected at least 12. Along with the other unique shells I had in my hand, I had quite the haul!

Next was Little Manley Bay. Compared to Big Manley beach, this one was definitely a “baby” sized beach. The last beach was Fisherman’s Reserve. Not really a beach but had cool caves in the rock walls. Right away we noticed a lot of large scallop shells on the beach. It also seemed like the scallops were recently eaten- some of the meat and ligaments were still attached! There was a good amount of broken sea urchin shells too. It’s common on the beaches to find the sea urchins and eat them right there out of the shell! I gathered up some of the scallop shells - they were huge!

It was getting late so we headed out for food. Marcus really wanted me to try a meat pie- it’s the “thing” in NZ. We go to the bakery voted best in town, picked out the pie, only to find out that they only took cash or debit! All that salivating and I couldn’t eat! What a bummer. Had to settle for airport food

Have to say, both airports down here are high end. Thinks like Franke sinks, dyson faucets that blow dry hands from the same faucet fixture as the water comes out of we’re just a few details I noticed. Everywhere in both countries is so clean. People in NZ definitely laid back. So many international languages in the air at one time. Hardly any graffiti. I can see why people make the long flight ✈️ To visit!

[perfectstayz1]

Vacation home rentals in south pacific is a Home By The Sea, a 4 bedroom Whangaparoa holiday house, just 30ish meters from this secure beach and a short stroll to Matakatia Beach or Manly Beach in low tide.

[aimeepemberton]

What a view! Rangitoto in the distance. Had an awesome day with the family yesterday in Whangaporoa #grandmashouse #family #love #travel #nz🇳🇿 (at Matakatia Beach)

[theroadtoelle]

Photography: Matakatia Bay

I was on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula visiting family, and I asked my hubby to stop the car so I could take a few photos at this little beach we drove past.  He obliged, and I was pleased with this photo that I thought was fairly iconic of New Zealand beaches.  Of course, it has quite a moody feel to it, as there was no sunshine and it was late.  And the tide was out.  And the pohutakawa wasn’t in…

[polwarth]

Matakatia Beach

[polwarth]

Matakatia Beach