Muriwai seascape
I’ve mentioned feeling that I couldn’t get enough of the ocean around New Zealand, so I’ll be sure to keep sprinkling the upcoming botanical pictures with views from various places along the coast. Here’s a seascape from Muriwai on the west coast of the North Island on February 7th. The water is the Tasman Sea, a portion of the Pacific Ocean that lies between Australia (think Tasmania) and New Zealand.
© 2015 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
I was wondering if you’d made it here–Muriwai is one of my very favorite places near Auckland! Did you climb the hill to the overlook of the gannet colony?
krikitarts
March 16, 2015 at 8:26 AM
Not to have climbed the hill would have been to miss the forest for the trees, or some such analogy, Gary. Avian adventures are forthcoming in a couple of days, but first I thought to have you see the sea.
Steve Schwartzman
March 16, 2015 at 8:33 AM
Sí, sí!
krikitarts
March 17, 2015 at 6:02 PM
Hasta mañana.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 6:49 PM
Catch the wave.
Steve Gingold
March 16, 2015 at 8:38 AM
A little outside the frame on the right, a group of people were gathered for what seemed to be a class in scuba diving or surfing. They may have been about to catch the waves more literally than I did with my camera.
Steve Schwartzman
March 16, 2015 at 8:44 AM
Seeing a sea is captivating, isn’t it? I can never get enough of it either.
melissabluefineart
March 16, 2015 at 8:55 AM
The place where I grew up on Long Island was less than half an hour from the Atlantic Ocean, and that’s something I miss in central Texas. The Gulf Coast is about four hours from Austin, but I’ve not found it all that scenic. Still, it’s better than no ocean, so I should try to visit more often than once every several years.
In any case, New Zealand’s coast is great, and I’ll be glad to share it with you, even if only vicariously.
Steve Schwartzman
March 16, 2015 at 9:13 AM
I, too, grew up not far from the sea and really crave it. I’m disappointed to learn that the gulf coast isn’t pretty… I’ve been wondering about that. Currently I’m intending to live on an island in Puget Sound. It will be beautiful, but not really seanic, like you are showing. Thank you! 🙂
melissabluefineart
March 16, 2015 at 9:18 AM
I hope I’m not selling the Gulf Coast short. There are wildflowers that choose to live there, and probably other maritime things to get interested in if I spent the time. The coast, though, isn’t seanic like New Zealand’s, or as pretty as not-so-gorgeous-but-still-oceany Long Island’s. Maybe I need to speak Spanish to it.
My impression is that Puget Sound is closer to the appeal of New Zealand than to the non-appeal of the Gulf of Mexico. Puget Sound is also cold, but then so is New Zealand for much of the year.
Steve Schwartzman
March 16, 2015 at 9:32 AM
We stayed in a barn overlooking that ‘sea’ and woke every morning to watch the waves and gaze at the incredible blues and greens of the water. You have captured it well.
Heyjude
March 16, 2015 at 11:17 AM
And you’ve remembered it well. I never got to see a sunrise or an early morning on the west coast, but the daytime views were still great.
Steve Schwartzman
March 16, 2015 at 1:43 PM
I will add my agreement to ‘seanic’.
Gallivanta
March 16, 2015 at 11:51 PM
I sea that you agree.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 7:39 AM
See what the sea has been doing recently. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11418050
Still seanic but also dramatic.
Gallivanta
March 17, 2015 at 7:50 AM
Surrounded by the ocean as your country is, I imagine storms like that must be fairly common. Luckily the latest one didn’t seem to do a lot of damage.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 8:09 AM
Yes, we have some rough waters at times.
Gallivanta
March 17, 2015 at 5:39 PM
The coasts of the United States have had their share of rough waters too, as documented recently in the three parts of Winds of Change:
https://shoreacres.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/winds-of-change-part-i-that-prescient-name/
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 6:48 PM
That was an excellent series by Linda.
Gallivanta
March 17, 2015 at 9:17 PM
Agreed!
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 10:53 PM
A beach we went to a lot when I was a child growing up in Auckland. I took some photos yesterday of the high seas near Napier – courtesy of Cyclone Pam. A lot wilder than this. But Muriwai is deceiving and there are a lot of rips that can pull you right out.
Raewyn's Photos
March 17, 2015 at 3:23 PM
I didn’t try to swim at Muriwai, but just to the right of this view a group of people were gathered on the beach for what seemed to be a class in scuba diving or surfing.
I heard a little about Cyclone Pam. Perhaps on your blog you’ll post some of the pictures you took of the high seas.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 3:38 PM
Done Check it out – https://decocraftsdigicrafts.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/after-cyclone-pam-high-surf-along-the-coast/
Raewyn's Photos
March 17, 2015 at 4:19 PM
Definitely a rougher surf than what I saw during my stay in New Zealand.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 4:27 PM
It was pretty rough. I had trouble standing up at times plus it was cold.
Raewyn's Photos
March 17, 2015 at 4:28 PM
You remind me of the trouble we had standing up against the wind at one point on the top deck of the Interislander, and it wasn’t even an unusually windy day (at least it hadn’t been on land).
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2015 at 4:30 PM
It is very deceptive. Inside it looks calm, and then you go on deck and the wind hits you.
Raewyn's Photos
March 17, 2015 at 4:32 PM
[…] main reason people go to Muriwai on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, aside from the beach itself, is the Australasian gannets (known in Māori as tākapu and in biospeak as Morus serrator) nesting […]
Australasian gannets | Portraits of Wildflowers
March 18, 2015 at 5:11 AM