Well, today was supposed to be a quiet day. Gathering all my resources ready for the last week at work. Instead after lunch, it looked like such a nice day, I thought 'Why not go for a drive somewhere'.
So I go out my map (on my phone), and looked for somewhere interesting but not too far away.
The result Mataetei.
The drive out there was predictably boring. Driving through Auckland takes forever. The traffic was not too heavy but constant. Just right for a sunny day. If there had been any more there would have been sections where the volume of traffic would have started to slow things down.
Eventually, just after you turn on to Whitford road, the city starts to melt away and you start to drive through green fields again, rather than city streets.
Whitford was busy but not overly so, it looked like 'The Stables Whitford' was doing a good business, with plenty of cars and people around. I thought about stopping as it looked very nice in Whitford, but I was keen to plod on.
And so past Beachlands and on to Maraetei.
As you would expect on a nice sunny summer day Maraetei was buzzing. There were cars all along the side of the road down by the water. And plenty of people out having fun. It was great to see so many people out enjoying themselves after all those months in lockdown, but there were not as many people as I was expecting.
I stopped in a quiet section and managed to take a snap.
As you can see there was not a cloud in the sky or anyone on this part of the beach. But the road was still a bit too crowded for me so I moved on.
The coastal road from Maraetei to Umupuia is very narrow and for most of the road, it was lined with cars, wherever they could find a safe spot to park. So given that it was a busy day, progress along this part was slow.
Eventually, the road opened up to Umupuia Beach, but no fewer cars. Wherever there was somewhere to park off the road in the shade there were one or more cars. And even in some places where there was no shade.
Here the road took a sharp left turn and headed in away from the beach and past Duder Regional Park and back into Cleveland before heading back out again to the coast at Clevedon Coast Oysters. Then back in again to go over the hills past Waitawa Regional Park. (This looks like a spot to go back to another day)
And down the other side into Kawakawa Bay. There were still plenty of people here, but much less than in the previous spots. At the far end of the bay is a dairy, which seemed a good place to get a drink and ice cream on such a lovely sunny day.
As you can see from these photos, my timing was not the best as the tide was miles out. So I just sat in my car and enjoyed my drink and ice cream.
The rest of the trip was not very exciting. Just heading back to Manukau and back up the motorway to home.
But all in all a very interesting afternoon by the sea and a chance to enjoy some glorious weather.
So until next time
Travel safely 😀
The Old Man of The Road 🚙
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