There's something about the beach my dog Ollie the Collie just loves, and close to mine is a shelly, calm beach known as Maratei. Maratei is a Maori word and literally means, "A meeting place by the sea."
The area holds a lot of cultural significance, but most important to those that use the beach, it is a place to relax and bask in the ambiance that only our seas can provide.
It is on the eastern coast of Auckland and takes about an hour to get there by car from Auckland central. The atmosphere is calm and relaxed through the week, it has a couple of really nice cafes and eateries.
There were a lot of birds out today, to be honest, the area usually has heaps of bird-life about. Ollie goes absolutely crazy when he sees all of them, so long as they are plain old gulls I'll let him see if he can chase them down.
There is plenty of parking available, I think the area is generally pretty safe so I don't worry too much if I wander out of view of my car. As many houses are on the other side of the road, I kind of get to thinking that the good townsfolk wouldn't let anything untoward go down around their "hoods". There is a police presence also, which is good to see in such a far out community. I can't recall a time that I have been out there when I haven't seen a police car slowly drive through town. I don't think anyone is getting up to mischief out there that I am aware of, it has the feeling generally of a very safe community. You can see the local front-shops just in the photo, but I can assure you that there is a fabulous little place called The Beach n Bach or something similar that does a good selection of tapas. I got the mussels kilpatrick & the chicken liver pate. Both good enough to recommend however the jelly set on the top of the pate was quite, well very firm shall we say. I am pretty much a master chef so do bear that in mind!
There are always some good folk getting some fishing done when I come down here, whether or not anything is being caught I really couldn't tell you. I do also know that yo can get shellfish from Maratei and around this area however to be honest; finding information on collection rules and guides is very difficult to find on-line.
Ollie loves the rocks, and I love to see him in the water - its awesome. He's just a little over 1 year old, and whilst he loves getting in the water and getting wet he is still finding his confidence. It's very cute to watch.
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