June | 2015 | Brightchic Photography: Day Trips For The Uninspired, New Zealand

I know this isn’t strictly a day trip (more like an afternoon trip) but I thought I would write a bit about it all the same, as the floods were a sight to see and a timely reminder, of natures might.

As the rain was pouring down, on the afternoon of 20th June 2015, I put on my wet gear, grabbed my cameras, headed into Woodville and got a coffee from the Windfarm Bakery & Cafe .

Then I drove out of Woodville towards Balance, crossed the Balance bridge and parked the ute near the playground. The rain was pouring down so I finished my coffee and ventured out.

As I was standing on the bridge I was surprised how many people stopped to take photos and have a look at the river, I had some interesting conversations with quite a few people that day.

There was a lot of power in the river that day, I watched as part of the Ferry Reserve and trees lining the river started disappear under the flowing water. They had to close the Manawatu Gorge due to slips, it was a quite a long time before it was opened again.

After a while, I went home because the rain was getting worse but the next day, 21st June 2015 I went out again. See the photos below.

The Manawatu River caused a lot of damage due to flooding around the Manawatu region, as seen in the video below.

20th June 2015 View from the Balance Bridge, looking back towards Woodville. Only the tree tops were visible.

20th June 2015, view of the Manawatu River from the Balance Bridge.

20th June 2015 River flowing under the Balance Bridge.

20th June 2015 Looking down into the river from the bridge

20th June 2015 View from the Balance Bridge of the Ferry Reserve

21st June 2015, flooded paddocks on the way to Balance.

21st June, part of the Woodville Ferry Reserve under water. View from the Balance Bridge.

21st June 2015. View of the Manawatu River from the gateway of the Woodville Ferry Reserve.

21st June 2015 Manawatu running high under the road bridge into the Manawatu Gorge.

photo taken Nov 2014. Road Bridge into the Manawatu Gorge. The river at normal level.

Gina and I decided it was time to go to the beach again so we decided to head out to Akitio and checkout the beach and surrounding area.

So on a chilly Wednesday morning in May (2015) we hopped in the car and believe it or not, we were on the road by 9am. We headed to Dannevike and stopped in at Subway for a coffee and a bite to eat.

We then headed down to Millar Street (There is a sign for Akitio, Herberville, Pongaroa) and continued on Weber Road. We then turned left into River Road and followed the road across the bridge that goes over the Akitio river and on to the coast road. Then along to the Akitio Esplanade, where we parked the car. There are quite a few houses along the esplanade, many are holiday homes but there are a few people who live there permanently. There is also a shop and public facilities. It took us approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there from Woodville.

It was a bit brisk and overcast when we got out of the car, so out came the scarfs, woolly hats and gloves. We made our way onto the beach and what caught my eye were the posts firmly planted in the sand. They looked like sentries watching over the beach. Which of course we had to take photos of and the seagull added a nice touch, perched on top, of its lofty lookout.

The tide was out so we walked along the beach, the reef has some amazing rock formations and the sea water left behind, created some interesting looking rock pools. We then headed back up to where the Akitio river meets the sea, passing quite a bit of driftwood along the way. We were also surprised by how many Kingfishers were flying around. It’s the most we have seen in a very long time.

The following week, we visited a very different Akitio beach, a depression had gone through the night before, when we arrived the Akitio river seemed to have doubled in size as we drove over the bridge. There was no beach, the waves tossed around the driftwood as if it were paper mache. In places the waves were coming up over the grass verge. So with the rain coming down we parked the car, donned on our wet gear, grabbed the cameras and off we went.

As we stood on top of the grassed area where normally the beach would be, all we could see were waves, its was an amazing sight to see the “power of the ocean” easy to get taken by a wave, if you don’t have your wits about you.

By the afternoon the sea had calmed a bit, the beach was visible but we still couldn’t walk on it because every so often a wave would come right in.

Although, with the weather changing we saw, Shags, Gulls a Rook, Kingfishers and quite a few Fantails, darting from one piece of driftwood to another.

All in all, a great end to another great day out.