Cruising the Kaipara, part one

If you travel north and west of Auckland, up to Helensville, you can take a cruise down the Kaipara River and out into the Harbour of the same name.  Allie treated us to just such a cruise one Sunday recently. It was a 5 hour round-trip, with two hours spent having lunch at a cafe called The Jetty, and enjoying the playground and beach nearby.  

On the map below, which was displayed on board our boat, the Kewpie Too, The Kaipara River enters the harbour from its southernmost point. 

At first glance, the Kaipara River looks muddy and inhospitable. Mucky.  Along both banks are mangrove trees and the dominant colors are dark green, brown, grey, black, and a mixture of all of them. However, life abounds in this area, and we learned a lot of interesting facts during our narrated tour. 

Do you remember a post about Te Atatu Peninsula? Also a mangrove habitat.

http://fostersoe.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/te-atatu-peninsula-and-mangrove-mudflats.html

I wasn't very impressed with the mangroves on Te Atatu. They smelled rather rank.

The mangroves that we sailed through on this cruise smelled earthy and very organic, but they smelled healthier to me than did the swamps at Te Atatu. 

Well, let's get started with some pictures...

Here she comes. We liked the colors of red, white and blue! 

 Some last-minute discussion about provisioning going on here I think.

Heading down river.  I thought briefly about Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn as we started out. No hippos though, swarms of flies or rapids. And our boat sure beat Bogie's little steamer.  

'First Class Passengers Only' on the upper deck. Just kidding. All passengers on board were invited up top where the view was the best. (and the wind the stongest)

However, it was reached by two narrow, almost vertical stairways that weeded out most of the senior members of the passengers. (I did make it)  

This is the view down one of the hatches from the upper deck. 

Cormorants (many people call them shags) along the muddy banks with mangroves behind them. These trees are much smaller than those you'd find in the tropics. Remember, we're at the southern edge of their range.  

All along the river, these 'creeks' run up into the swamps. They are full of eels. Fishermen put out traps periodically and send most of the catch to Asia. 

After catching them, the eels are cooled while still in water to just above the freezing point, which puts them into hibernation. The water is then drained away and the eels, since they need almost no oxygen in this state and can live for up to 20 hours, are flown to markets,  mostly in Asia. Upon arrival, they are reintroduced into gradually warmer water and revived. These live eels from NZ command a high price in such markets.  

They can have them, I'm not a fan of eels. 

Our Captain at the wheel, his hand on the throttle, full attention on the river.  Coffee cup poised nearby. 

Oysters along the shore. This was a huge Maori food gathering location. In fact, the name Kaipara was given to the harbour and river by a Maori chief who was visitng here. 

This is a suction dredge that works out in the harbour, sucking up the white sand that makes up the harbour seafloor.  

Very different than the black sand that is deposited on many of the west coast beaches, this is collected because of its color and uniformity of grain size. Used in lots of landscaping jobs. 

Seafaring men are a hardy lot that need plenty of nourishment. The voyage was just starting but these lads have settled down to fueling up their engines. Rice crackers today take the place of ship's biscuit. 

That's the Captain's First Mate there in the galley, ready to serve up hot drinks or pies as needed. Business looked slow today as most of the passengers were elderly and most came with thermoses and snacks of their own. 

'Land-ho,' (Shelley Beach) in the distance. We have made the crossing from the mouth of the Kaipara River to this, our stopping place for lunch, fairly quickly. The Captain explained that because of the rain, he would show us around the harbour after lunch, instead of before, as is the normal routine. 

While the upper deck was fun for a while, this weather was wet enough to send even the heartiest among us into the shelter of the cabin. I was just hoping that it would not be pouring as we made ourselves down the long jetty that the cafe is named for.

 The fishermen were all busy reeling in their lines as we approached. 

The Captain had informed us that the tide varies by 14 feet here. The water was dropping all during our excursion. 

We made it. The short walk in from the boat wasn't too bad. This picture and the following were taken after lunch and after the rain had moved through.

Allie and Jeanne were sipping flat-whites after lunch but the boys were anxious to get at the playground. I went along. 

They met some other kids on the playgound who has also been on the boat. 

Kiwis love to decorate walls with murals. I've shown you many examples in the past. This is on the mens' changing room. 

That's the Jetty Cafe. Love it. 

End of part one. 

Part two takes us around the harbour. The skies have cleared, the Captain opens up the throttle, and we explore. Come along...         djf