Manukau Heads Lighthouse

Today's adventure takes us to the Awhitu Peninsula and up to the Manukau Heads Lighthouse, which is located on the northern tip of that peninsula. 

We are currently in the town of Waiuku.  We stopped for a bite of lunch. Here are four photos from around that picturesque little berg.  

This guy is apparently acting as 'town crier' today. If you look carefully, you'll see that he has a trumpet of sorts in his right hand. We watched him walk through town and every now and then make an announcement. He would first climb up on a bench or a rock, then blow his horn a few blasts, and finally launch into an advertisement for a pharmacy that was having a sale that day. Very unique. 

This little body of water is not Loch Ness, it's the Waiuku Stream, but as you can see, it does support a rather exotic pair (at least) of residents. The baby is anchored in such a way that it can revolve 360 degrees and so seems to swim freely near mom.  

Here is our crew awaiting our order at a fish n chips takeaway place. We ate our lunch at the edge of  the Tamakae Reserve and the shore of one finger of the Manukau Harbour. The header photo I used today was taken just feet from where we ate.

When I see statues like this one, I sometimes remember the Indian heads that were all over the Wakefield area when I was a kid. Sadly, most of them are gone now. 
Maybe this guy gave the 'town crier' his inspiration for advertising.

We discovered that the takeaway place was very generous with our order of chips. We had ordered three orders of fish and chips for the five of us. Despite this, we wrapped up quite a few chips to take along for later. We never did eat those chips that day, but we brought them home with us. The next day, Grammy used the chips to make a real Spanish tortilla. We had eaten totillas de potata many times during the times we were in Spain, and the one she made with left-over chips was every bit as good as any of them. 

After lunch, we took the advise from the scary guy in the picture just above, and headed up the Awhitu Peninsula. The lighthouse was just 1/2 hour away now.

The lighthouse is not a very tall one, but it doesn't have to be. It stands on the 240 meter tall (about 787 feet) Maukau Heads. 

There it is. Visiting almost anything interesting in New Zealand means you'll have to do some climbing. This one is no exception. 

Here we are part way up looking back toward the parking lot and the road that leads here.  

There are Allie and the boys on top. The wind up there I'll bet was at least 40 miles an hour. 

In this picture, you are looking toward Whatipu and the Tasman Sea. In 1863, The HMS Orpheus ran aground while trying to enter this harbour and 189 of the 259 men aboard died. The captain was using old charts and the channel had moved. When it hit the sand, the waves and wind pushed the ship sideways and tipped it over on it's side. Only 1 boat was able to get away before it went over. The men climbed up into the rigging to get away from the waves, but eventually the masts broke, dumping the men into the water. Most could not swim. This was New Zealand's worst maritime disaster.

A painting of the wreck is displayed inside the lighthouse.

What a shame that most of the crew died. That Whatipu beach is very wide and sandy. Had they known how to swim, I think most would have been to avoid the sharp volcanic rocks that do exist and land on sand. 

Allie has had both boys in swim classes for the last couple of years. They're doing well.  

I have quite a few more photos so I think I'll continue this on another post.     -djf