Just got back from a week of camping with family at Muriwai, on the West coast, just half an hour by car from the urban madness that is Auckland. The campsite lies behind the main swimming beach, at the end of which lies one of two renouned Gannet colonies on North Island. The other is Cape Kidnappers near Hastings in the Hawke's Bay area.
We had wonderful weather, apart from a rainy day and a half and rain on the last day, so packing up was a soggy affair. I made several trips to the Gannets. At low tide it was safe to explore the rocks below the colony, though people fish from them at all tides. At high tide the blowhole made a show, as did the occasional wave that made it over the fishing rock, soaking those standing there. In the evenings we would saunter down to the dune line and watch the sunsets,and it was dark enough by night to get some night skies - using tips from this forum with great success.
Thanks for leaving a comment. Yes, my bad - that is the Pleiades and of course Taurus - not all the way over to Orion. That was another image... Making the edit.
