The Beach Life Festival

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I made a very quick trip to California to visit my sister.  I was in route to Florida but can never come to the States without seeing my sweet sister.

This trip had me taking 2 buses and an uber to Auckland, a short stay at the unique Naumi Hotel, then a 14 hour flight to L.A.

The hotel was pretty cool but I did not get a chance to enjoy it as I arrived at 8p and left at 4a.

Beach Life Festival

I had a few hours to drop my bag and collect myself before we headed to the Beach Life Festival.  This is a 3-day festival, but we only had tickets for Day 1.  The headliner was Duran Duran!

It was a beautiful day in Redondo Beach.  Warm weather, sunny skies and tons of beachgoers.

My sister Kimberly, Troy, Kalani (Cole’s fiancé) and Cole played with us!

Drinks were terribly expensive, but super delicious. 

They had a few “photo op” spots which we took full advantage of.

The first band we saw was Group Love and they were on fire!  It was a spectacular show.

We tried to get in to see the Chain Smokers but it was jammed packed. So, we headed to the Duran Duran Stage to secure a great spot.

Simon was spectacular and sounded just like he did 30 years ago!  He put on a great show featuring all of their greatest hits and loads of entertainment.

Polliwog Park

My sister and I brough her dog Luke to Polliwog Park.  This enormous park has multiple playgrounds, dog parks, historic sites and more!

Polliwog Park is in Manhattan Beach which showed off with a perfectly beautiful sunny day,

All sorts of critters were out enjoying the sunshine!

These little turtles were doing yoga trying to warm their hind legs. 

Ducks, Canadian geese, and pelicans were all fighting for the same fish.

I just love these two!

Even though it was a short visit – it was full of love, laughter and little adventures.  I am eternally grateful to my beautiful sister and her husband Troy for always taking such great care of me when I visit.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual events.

I was in Los Angeles in early May.

I take you along the Eastern Coast of the North Island in our last blog titled “The East Coast of the North Island.“

East Coast of NZ’s Northland

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This season we had the pleasure of traveling up and down the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, Northland.

We sailed over 700nm down to Tauranga (south) and as far North as Matai Bay.

And the amazing thing is we did not even begin to touch all of the beautiful places Northland has to offer!

We started at Whangarei (red arrow) and went south.  Then we left Tauranga and headed north to Matai before returning to Whangarei.

Along the way, we saw some absolutely stunning coastline. 

The coastline close to Tauranga (south) had a rocky terrain with specs of greenery.  It also had beautiful towering cliff faces.

Around the Auckland / Waiheke Area things were a lot greener with hillsides and mountains covered in lush vegetation.

You’d see mountains, hillsides, and then you will see lower lands but all covered in green!

North on the North Island

As we continued North toward Whangaroa we encountered more beautiful scenery. 

I love the mohawk on the bottom photo. Poor mountain does not know that mohawks are so yesterday!

Continuing North to Matai Bay

The landscape became more rugged the further north we went.  

From Whangaroa to Maitai Bay we saw beautiful mountains with green tops and dramatic cliffs plunging into the sea.

We had a very short sailing season in New Zealand this year.  We were only able to explore the east coast of the north island from February through April.

We had really hoped to explore more nooks and crannies along the coast. However, our extended stay in the boatyard cut our cruising season really short.

However, we certainly made the most out of the time we had!

Our blog posts run 6 weeks behind actual events. We sailed the east coast from mid-February through mid-April in 2026.

Whangamumu: Echoes from a Forgotten Whaling Harbour”

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Whangamumu is one of Northland’s favorite anchorage.  The bay is large and picturesque, with solid holding, and great hiking treks.

The history of Whangamumu can be considered pretty ugly.  So before we dive into that let me share some beautiful photos of this peaceful anchorage.

Waterfall Hike

Just beside the whaling station is a small path that leads to a waterfall.  Lucky for us it had just rained so the water fall was flowing nicely.  Unlucky for us in that with the rain came some severe storms which caused a mess on the path.

It took us less than 10 minutes to get to the base of the falls.

Matt decided to hike up the falls (in his flip flops) and captured some more photos. 

Can you find me in the left photo and Matt in the right?

The Whaling Station at Whangamumu

Note:  Whaling is now considered abhorrent.  However, back in the day, it was a way to feed families, and provide oil for lighting and more.

This bay is best known for its remote, abandoned whaling station. 

This was once a bustling industrial site.  It was established in the 1800’s and expanded into a full processing station by 1910.

It was Northland’s longest running whaling operation which finally shutdown in 1940. 

However, rusting machinery and concrete ruins are left behind.  The natural bush is slowly taking over creating an eerie yet beautiful site.

Why was Whangamu’s Whaling Station Unique?

It is believed to be the only whaling station in the world that used nets to catch the whales. 

Most of the operations used boats and harpoons.

During its peak, this operation had processing plants, boilers, slipways, and oil vats that lined the shore. 

Up to 70 whales a year were caught and processed here.  Every part of the whale was used and nothing was wasted.

The whaling station was finally closed due to economic issues and the steep decline in the humpback whale population.

From shore you can just make out the large concrete vats where they used to collect the oil.

We believe this is an old heat exchanger of some sort. 

We were not sure if the concrete wall was added later or if it was part of the original build.

There were lots of bits and pieces on the grounds.  Can you make out what any of them used to do?

There were three signs.  However, only two of them were legible.

The old slip where the men winched the whales to the plant is still partially seen offshore. 

As very sad part of history. 

However, with conservation efforts the humpback whales are  returning to their former glory.

Find Whangamumu on No Foreign Land.

Our blog posts are 6 weeks behind actual live events.  We enjoyed the beautiful bay of Whangamumu around mid-April 2026.