Tonight we ventured up to North Head with the kids. We finished dinner early and had 2 hours till bed time and felt like something a little adventurous so we parked the car at the base of the hill and ventured up the hill – cardboard boxes in hand.
For those of you who don’t know North Head, it is an amazing historic reserve located in Devonport, Auckland with not only sweeping views of the Hauraki Gulf, the island and the city of Auckland but also a rich military history dating back to 1878. But most importantly for the kids – it has tunnels and secret hide outs – lots of them!
Exploring North Head is phenomenal.
Venturing into dark caves where your voices echo around the cavernous spaces and climbing through small holes into darkened spaces lit only by the torch on your phone is enough to spur the imagination in any explorer – young or old.
Exploring and climbing through all the old structures and marvelling at the size of the guns facing out to the harbour.
Or taking in the magnificent views from any side that you walk to – the city on one side, with the sun setting behind it, or Rangitoto on the other side and islands and boats strewn in between.
A brilliant spot to get some arty looking photos – I didn’t go prepared so these are all from my iPhone (which you know what they say – the best camera is the one you have with you) but if you are planning a trip and want to get some great photos so with a camera (or even better some lighting) that will allow you a bit of flexibility in low light. Regardless, its a great spot for the kids to ham it up for the camera.
There are plenty of places for a picnic and after the exploring is done there is nothing better than sliding down the hill on a piece of cardboard like Miss K here is doing (she’s the drama queen of the family so excuse the fact that she looks like she is an extra in an action movie).
So if you have a spare hour or two after work, grab the kids, a torch, a picnic and some cardboard and go and explore North Head.
There’s a great info sheet here also…
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/historic/by-region/040-fact-sheet-north-head-historic-reserve.pdf
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/historic/by-region/040-fact-sheet-north-head-historic-reserve.pdf
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/historic/by-region/040-fact-sheet-north-head-historic-reserve.pdf
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/historic/by-region/040-fact-sheet-north-head-historic-reserve.pdf
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/historic/by-region/040-fact-sheet-north-head-historic-reserve.pdf