First time at Pouto

Temperatures are really starting to cool down here and places that are normally busy over Summer have now quietened down.

Mondays are normally the other half's day off so we drove out to the Pouto Peninsula which is about an hour or so from Dargaville. Now Dargaville is about an hour and a half from where we live so it's a long way to go and mostly dirt/gravel roads through forestry areas.

Pouto is at the northern end of the Kaipara Harbour, and the catchment area includes around 50 dune lakes over 1 hectare in size.

If you walk a further 7kms around the beach you can reach the Pouto Lighthouse, unfortunately the tide was too high, but where we did walk the sand was scattered with driftwood, seaweed and shells. It's probably one of the cleanest beaches I've visited in a long time.

Can't forget the obligatory Variable Oyster Catchers who roam the shores in Northland and Auckland - there also was also a fenced off area for nesting birds which was nice to see and we were pretty much the only ones there. These guys breed in pairs from September through to March but they are over 5 years old before they begin the process.  They have been a protected species since 1922.

Pouto is also a place where various historic shipwrecks are and it's known as "the graveyard". The views from the lighthouse also include a large pine forest, views of the Tasman sea and the remains of a 63,000 year old fossilized Kauri forest.  Apparently from what I've heard the fishing is fantastic and if you look at the land in the distance in this photo above it's of South Head near Helensville.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World for this one.