We've been pushing the bounds a bit on our weekend exploring, going a little farther from home when seeking out new adventures.
(And by farther, I mean an hour to an hour-and-a-half car ride versus the half-hour my kids will usually do with only minor complaint. The way my kids act in the car, you would think every mile yields a new level of torture ;)
This past weekend, we drove about an hour and 10 minutes north of home to the Cape Rodney-Okakari Point Marine Reserve, otherwise and from here out known as Goat Island. The reserve is unique to the Auckland region in that it protects wild sea life. There's no fishing, boating, shell collecting, dog walking/swimming or other disturbances allowed here. And that creates what's described as a "largely silt-free environment, which contrasts with much of the inner Haruraki Gulf."
In essence, it's a good place for fish to live -- and a good place for people to see how they live.
You can snorkel, scuba drive or rent a see-through kayak (which looked awesome) to get out on the water, up close and personal with our finned friends. I thought this might be a good way for Shane to improve his fishing skills -- look inside their beady little eyes and suss out their secrets to stealing his bait ;) But alas, the day was a bit too windy and chilly to commune with the fishes.
So instead we did a bit sightseeing, a little rock climbing and then hiked up to the education center on the property.
Run by Auckland University, the Goat Island Marine Discovery Centre offers a nicely done overview of marine life in the Auckland region and even has a touch tank where visitors can feel some of the creatures of the deep. It cost $20 for our family to look around -- totally worth it. The kids got to carry around clipboards and identify pictures of sea creatures on a print-out. They had a fun time finding the matching pictures and writing down the animal names. And we all enjoyed poking at the hermit crabs and starfish in the touch tank.
After about an hour on the reserve, we decided we'd had enough fishy fun. The kids were anxious to get home -- why, I don't know? -- but I wanted to stop by another beach I had read about in an Auckland day trip guide: Anchor Bay.
Anchor Bay is at the end of a peninsula that's part of Tawharanui Regional Park. It's about a half-hour drive from Goat Island along a very windy, half-gravel road. But worth the effort our little Japanese car put into getting us there.
It's an incredible white-sand beach, with caves and rock formations to explore, nice size waves for surfing and wave jumping and views to write home about. Just beautiful. Also sunny the day we went, which made it the perfect temperature to get in the water and jump some waves (the girl) or run away from them (the boy).
We had a great day, and went home sandy, freckled, tired and happy.
Take a look at our video for more. :)
