New Zealand, 9-13-2017--Paeroa to Parua Bay

Cows and more cows.

We stopped at the Miranda Shorebird Center on the Firth of James, a large, shallow bay with extensive tide flats and a major migratory shorebird habitat.  Among the birds that spend part of the year here is the bar-tailed godwit.  As the poster above notes, each year the bar-tailed godwit makes an incredible migration from Alaska to the Firth of James, a distance of over 7000 miles which they fly non-stop in 8-9 days.  It's the longest known non-stop flight of any land bird.  

The Miranda Shorebird Center was both welcoming and impressively stocked with bird books.  

After some birdwatching along the west shore of the Firth of James, we drove up through Auckland, NZ's largest city.  As you might guess, we didn't stop and were relieved to escape the metro area.

Continuing north, we came to the sheltered waters of Whangarei Bay, one of NZ's major recreational boating areas.  

Ocean beach to seaward of Whangarei Bay

Whangarei Bay

The view from our camp on the north shore of Whangarei Bay.