Another black-sand beach on the western rim of Auckland, Muriwai has the gorgeous landscape, rollicking surf and sparkling sands that we've come to expect here.
It also has another claim to fame: It is home to one of the few gannet breeding colonies on the mainland of New Zealand.
Known in Maori as takapu, gannet are graceful, white sea birds with long bills and black-tipped wings. A close relative of the New Zealand gannet lives and breeds in the Northern Atlantic, places like Scotland, Iceland and Quebec. The version we have here can be found in Australia as well, but it's most common in NZ. And their breeding places are something of a tourist attraction.
To view the breeding grounds at Muriwai Beach, you have to hike up a fairly steep hill that offers amazing views of the coast along the way. At the top, you walk down a short, tree-lined path leading to a wooden lookout at the edge of the cliff.
The smell will reach you before the views. About 1,200 pairs of birds nesting together creates quite an...aroma. And the Adorables were quick to cover their noses. "Stinky," the boy called it.
And he was right -- but it was also really cool.
The colony actually sits on the flat cliff edge, as well as a few flat-topped rock islands. It's a wild place, with lots of activity -- birds flying in and out, fighting with each other for elbow room, squawking and talking. It's worth the fumes, if you're over 7 ;)
We happened upon this attraction at the perfect time. The gannets nest August to March each year. The Internet tells me that each pair of birds lays one egg and parents take turns watching over it. (Co-parenting for the win!).
The eggs (which I couldn't see from the lookout; might be too early in the season?) are a speckled white color. When the chicks hatch, they get a fluffy down then baby feathers. As a grown bird, they will fly across the Tasman Sea to Australia, and then come back to nest at the colony as a grown gannet ready to start its own family. (Good luck, mama gannet. Kids are a pain :)
Pretty neat stuff. Worth the trek and the "stink."
And if you're not a bird person, Muriwai Beach should still be on your bucket list. It's a gorgeous beach quite popular among surfers. Dogs can run and play in the off-season -- though they can't scale the cliff to scare all the birds away. There's a playground in the parking area, and a short walk down the road takes you to a really nice cafe where we bought ice cream cones (of course), fries (chips) and a toasty sandwich.
Check out our video for more beach views. My camera battery died before we hiked to the gannet colony, so I don't have any clips of the birds. I'll try to go back for another bird-watching session before they all leave for the season.
