Manukau Heads and Awhitu Regional Park

Today we went on an excursion to the Awhitu Peninsula.  Our first stop was at the historic lighthouse at the Manukau Heads, the site of New Zealand’s worst shipwreck (https://nzhistory.govt.nz/sinking-of-hms-em-orpheus-em-nzs-worst-shipwreck). The photo at top left shows the entrance to the Manukau Harbour over a dangerous bar; top right is further up the harbour; middle left is the lighthouse; middle right looks from the beach to a tiny island in the harbour called Kauritutahi Island; bottom left is Brook House built in 1878, which was lived in by Mrs Brook until she was almost 97 (the house has never had electricity!); bottom right is a pastoral scene, as the park is also a working farm.  The extra is of a 140-year-old Monterey Cypress (macrocarpa), believed to be the biggest in New Zealand.