Wednesday 15 December Climbing St Paul

St Paul from the bay

Whangaroa Bay, looking towards the entrance

A fine day to climb to the top of St Paul and take in the view. The walk starts along the beach front road and then swings up hill. Up the road, past the last house and then turn right and follow the path to the top. The climb is sharp. It took us 30 minutes to reach the top at 613m. The views were good, an overview of the harbour and it's amazing that you can see te depth of water. Away from the open sea entrance the surrounding land flattens into mangroves and farm land and the water gets much shallower.

David gymnast atop St Paul

As a reward for our efforts we called into The Marlin hotel for a quick drink and ended up having a long chat with the owner and a couple of local fisherman. From them we got tips on the best place to find scallops and lobsters. You can't beat a bit of local knowledge.... if it is knowledge and not a long tale.

View from the top

In the afternoon, when the tide had changed to favourable out going, we moved to one of the fjord like bays, Waitepipi, for more scenic views. It's like a Scottish loch, steep rock faces rising from clear water, fir trees with a few fern trees dotted in between and seagulls. Which land on the railings as soon as you stop moving. The only noise was the birds and gentle lapping of water on the hull.