manawatu beaches | Brightchic Photography: Day Trips For The Uninspired, New Zealand

Gina & I decided to head down to Levin and visit the home of the Hydrabad Shipwreck at Waitarere Beach, in the winter of 2014.

It was fine but cold and windy, scarf and woolly hat weather. It took us about an hour to get to Levin, we stopped and had a wander around the shops and then we came across the Adventure Park in Oxford Street. It is a well laid out and maintained park, with many facilities, it even has a dog exercise area. It is also Wheelchair friendly. Its a great place to stop and take a break.

Both, Gina and I were dying for a coffee and low and behold, there was Woodley’s Coffee Break, parked in the car park. I must say Woodley’s make great coffee, they also sell a variety of snacks and drinks. They can be found at the park most days.

After we had a chat and finished our coffee, Gina & I headed off to Waitarere Beach. It was breezy and cool and the sand was being blown around by the wind. We walked up the beach until we saw the Hydrabad marker, there wasn’t much left to see, as nearly all the wreck was covered by sand. Although, there was a small portion of iron still visible, I can imagine there would be nothing left to see today.

The Hydrabad was driven ashore at Waitarere beach on June 25th 1878. Gina & I are both glad we made the trip, to see the last remains of this historic ship. We wandered around the beach for a while, then headed home.

Seeing as we have being have such great weather, Gina & I decided to go to the beach again. This time we decided on Tangimoana Beach and Tawhirihoe Scientific Reserve. The Reserve can be accessed via the beach.

Tangimoana beach like many beaches on this coastline has a sand dune landscape, with driftwood scattered around. To help stop the dunes shifting, spinifex grasses have been planted to slow down dune movement.

The dune conservation program was started in 2007. Apparently, these parabolic dunes are the fastest moving in the country. Gina and I didn’t know anything about this, until I started doing some research on the area.

If you would like to read more about the dune conservation, have a read of ” Volunteers muck in on dune project” written by Emma Goodwin (Evening Standard 2009).

When we arrived there were quite a few people, fishing and walking along the beach. The seagulls were having a great time hovering around, waiting for their next meal.

The people down there were very friendly, everyone we passed on the beach, smiled and said hello. Even when we parked the car, a lady stopped and told us of a quicker way to get down to the beach.

We didn’t venture into the reserve that much because I had to fess up and tell Gina, katipo spiders live and breed around the area. I don’t mind spiders but Gina isn’t a fan of them.

The sea was quite warm, so we threw caution to the wind and took our shoes off, although we didn’t go in for a swim because its really not suitable for swimming.

Great place to hang out though, if you like wide open spaces, walking along the beach and just generally chilling out.

Like always, all too soon we had to head for home.