Necessary?

The struggle might be real but is it necessary? 

Walk Her Walk

Well I must say, would you look at Morton Salt now; Walk Her Walk might not be news to you folks living in the outside world but to this mostly land locked Alaskan this is note worthy.

Check out Morton Salt Walk Her Walk by clicking HERE. If you have not seen the video yet, it is worth your time.

What Next

A world of wonders surrounds us with endless possibilities to explore, learn, and grow.

Where will you go next?

Thank you New Zealand

Thank you all for traveling along with us these past few weeks.  We hope you have enjoyed seeing a bit of the North Island in New Zealand though our camera lens.

It is always a pleasure to travel with my best fella and best friend.  With each journey we take together I learn to appreciate your friendship even more.  Love you tons!

Where to next?

The Shire

Just a few Sheep on the Road

We went in search of a waterfall and found a road full of sheep instead. Best. Find. Ever!

Black Sand Beach

We stopped at a black sand beach just north of Mokau for a quick walk around and some photo taking time of yet another ocean wave. As you know I just cannot get enough beach-ocean-wave-time in my life to be completely filled up.

While taking photos in my normal crouched down position to see just how close I can get to my subject, it was pointed out to me that there is a wave coming my way, and I might want to stand up. Then in the next moment, it was suggested that I might want to do this quickly as the next wave is larger and moving rapidly towards us. My normal jogging backwards maneuver was not going to help me in this case and in order for me to avoid getting soaked by this wave, I had to turn around and run back up the beach with a bit of gusto.

It is a funny sight to see a couple of tourist running from the waves in a haphazard manner and sometimes you cannot help yourself but to laugh aloud. So that is just what the fishermen did, which we knew was done purely from the heart. Therefore, we went over and struck up a conversation with Elbe the fisherman.

 

It wasn’t too long in the conversation when Nimble, his friend, joined us and the conversation that ensued was one of the best visits with a random local person of the entire trip. Without this meeting, we would not have truly known why the sand at this beach was so different. The sand is magnetic iron-sand which is rich in titanomagnetite that is a magnetic variety of iron oxide that also contains some titanium.

“In the 1920s the Onekaka Iron and Steel Company built a blast furnace and ironworks near deposits of limonite iron ore at Onekakā in north-west Nelson. They were successful in smelting iron, but the iron ore reserves were small, and the operation ceased in 1935”. Te Are – The encyclopedia of New Zealand.

At the end of the fishing line is a torpedo RC controlled gadget that is used to set the fishing line out past the breaker waves.

Thank you Elbe and Nimble for making our visit to the black sand beach memorable.

We hope you had a great day fishing. P.S. your advice to eat at the Fat Pigeon was most excellent, they really do serve beautiful food.

Exploring Taranaki ~ Part 3

Exploring Taranaki ~ Part 2

Exploring the Taranaki Area

Te Rewa Rewa Bridge in the morning light with Mt. Taranaki just behind the clouds in the background.

The black sand beach of Oakura just south of New Plymouth.

Te Rewa Rewa Bridge New Plymouth

We were blessed to make it to the bridge at the perfect golden hour moment.  What a gorgeous evening.

Sights Around New Plymouth

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery where we viewed the kinetic art works by Len Lye.

Coastal walkway in New Plymouth that leads to the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge.

The Wind Wand by Len Lye.