Auckland Nature Park: Let’s go to Western Springs Park!

Last weekend, we visited the Western Springs Park, one of great nature parks in Auckland.

It is a great place to have a picnic throughout the year, but especially in the spring – early summer because you can see baby geese and swans!

Where is the Western Springs Park?

The Western springs park is located next to the famous Auckland Zoo. Address of the park is 731 Great North Road.

It is right next to SH16, Northern-Western Motorway.

It takes approximately 10 minutes by car from Auckland CBD.

There is a bus stop right outside the Western springs park, where several different buses stop at.

It may take around 30 minutes of travel and changing buses, if you travel from Auckland CBD to the western springs park by public transport.

The Western springs park is popular place to visit throughout the year; both local families and oversea visitors come to enjoy the beautiful park and wild life in the park.

Animals you can meet in the Western Springs Park

In the Western springs park, there are many wild life flourishing around the lake.

These include native birds, like Pukeko and black swan.

Children love to see the close, and photographers love taking close-up photographs of them.

Birds like Pukeko are rare overseas and many oversea visitors enjoy meeting them here in the Western springs park.

While the park contains plenty of natural resources and food that birds can eat, it is not forbidden to feed these birds in the park.

You should feed them on land and not in water, as remaining food in water will easily spoil the water.

But otherwise, if you bring a bag of old bread, you will have an awesome time feeding these birds throughout the park.

Birds are everywhere in the Western springs park.

Here are some of birds we encountered this trip.

Pukeko: Porphyrio melanotus

Native to New Zealand, Pukeko are found near water throughout New Zealand.

Characteristic blue feather and red beaks, these birds look really pretty.

In the Western springs, they are found on grass near the water, and love eating bread.

Goose

There are so many families of geese in the Western springs park.

From spring to early summer, you can see many baby geese, or goslings, walking around with their parents.

Babies are soooo cute and fluffy, and quite adventurous.

They will happily eat your bread, but be careful that some of adult geese are large and aggressive.

You might stay away from aggressive geese if you have small children with you, as aggressive birds may try to steal food directly.

Mother geese are often irritable while they are raising babies or hatching their egg, so stay away from them.

Black swan: Cygnus atratus

Also native to New Zealand, black swans have beautiful black body feathers and bright red beak.

Very beautiful and gentle birds.

Often they are swimming in the lake, and may be interested in your bread.

In the spring, there are many fluffy little babies too; the real “ugly duckling”. They are NOT ugly, but super cute!

They are curious and often swim towards you.

Australian Coot: Fulica atra australis

Medium size birds slightly smaller than Mallards, with black body and sharp white beak, with big feet.

These coots are also native to New Zealand.

They are often swimming in the lake. When chased by another birds, you may see them “run” on water at an amazing speed.

Some of them are quite brave and come close to human, asking for some bread.

We spotted a family with baby coot this trip in the spring.

Eel

In the lakes of the Western springs park, there are many eels.

They often swim towards you, asking for some bread.

Some of them seem to be tailing black swans, perhaps they are hoping to steal their bread?

Native to New Zealand, these eels are well looked after by the council.

In nature reserves and parks of New Zealand including the Western springs park, it is forbidden to catch any plant or animal species.

You must not try to catch any birds or eels, or other species in the park.

They are all very friendly and will come close to you if you bring a bag of bread for them, so enjoy watching them up close inside the park.

Play park inside the Western springs park

There is also a playground located inside the Western springs park.

There are many play gyms and outdoor toys that both young and elder kids can play.

Kids get so excited in the play ground!

This playground area is adjacent to the Auckland zoo, and occasionally you can see an elephant walking through a fence.

There is a small shop that operates in the Zoo, that also sells some food and ice creams to the Western springs park visitors.

There is a BBQ area nearby too.

From the Auckland Zoo shop, you can purchase scoops of Tip-top ice cream.

Ice cream after walking around the park and playing in the play ground taste fantastic!

To enjoy the Western Springs Park

The Western springs park is a large park. You can easily spend two hours or even a whole day there.

So when you are visiting the park, make sure to bring proper sunscreen, hats, plenty of drinks and snacks.

Also, you are allowed to feed birds and this is a real exciting event for both children and adults.

So don’t forget to bring a bag of old-bread from home to feed birds. Many visitors bring a bag full.

There are some families with kids teaching them how to ride bicycles in the park.

It is pretty safe inside the park without cars, so you may like to bring kids’ bicycles.

You do need to be extra careful of other visitors though, as there are many animals and small children running around in the park.

When it starts to get dark in the late afternoon, birds will go back to their nests and become less active.

So if you are hoping to meet active birds, you should come earlier during the day.

Summary of the Western Springs Park

One sunny day on the weekend, perfect for a picnic?

The Western springs park is a perfect place to go on such day, if you live in Auckland or visiting Auckland.

Pack your picnic gear, sunscreen and hats, a bag of bread and go to the Western Springs!

It is not far from other shops and amenities, and there are toilets inside the park too, which makes it an easy place to go with children.

Summary of Western springs park

• Beautiful park perfect for walking and picnic
• Many New Zealand native birds can be seen
• Bring a bag of bread to feed birds and eels!
• There are playground for children
• There are toilets and a shop in the park
• Only 10 minutes drive from Auckland downtown
• Free because its a park!

Finding toilet while travelling in New Zealand

New Zealand is a great place to travel with so much to see. You might your family to further away destinations than usual during school holidays.

But wherever you go, there is always this problem…. “ Where can I find TOILET?”

This is especially important problem when you are travelling with children who cannot tell you much in advance that they need to go toilet.

Or you, yourself may be experiencing the need to go toilet frequently these days.

So to ease your heart for the long journey, I put together some ideas about where to make a stop to find TOILET in New Zealand.

Fast Food Restaurant: McDonald’s Toilet

Overall the best toilet you can find during your travel is ones at McDonald and other fast food restaurants.

Their toilets are reasonably clean and hygienic, the place is open from early morning till late at night, and safe because there are staff on site.

Because fast food restaurants are easy to enter for those with small children, too.

They can easily be found all around New Zealand, especially near cities and motorways.

McDonald can be found in both North and South islands, and of course many restaurants are located in cities.

Check their official website for their locations;
https://mcdonalds.co.nz/find-us/restaurants?qstore=

If you also include Wendy’s and Burger King, there are many fast food restaurants in total.

McDonald in shopping malls close with the rest of the shopping mall. But otherwise, many McDonalds are open 24 hours, or from early morning till late at night.





McDonald Toilet: Pros

• Reasonably clean and hygienic.
• Separate toilet for male and female.
• Many locations all around NZ (and there are always other fast food chains too).
• Many locations near motorway.
• Friendly for family with small children to use.
• Open from early morning till late at night, so you can use it anytime.

McDonald Toilet: Cons

• The number of toilet is usually small, so can be busy around meal time.
• Toilets are for customers of McDonalds.

I am sure they will not say “no” if you ask about using toilet to McDonald staff. But primarily, these toilets are for customers of McDonald.

It is a good idea during long drive to have a proper stop, grab some drink or light meal to rest. So most people have intension to pickup something from McDonald anyway.

Your children will enjoy a bit of play time at the playground typically located in McDonald. It is beneficial to let them play hard and burn some extra energy, so they will stay quiet for the rest of the drive!

If you want to keep the cost down  at McDonald, my recommendation is “snack deals” and Frozen cokes.

You can pickup Frozen Coke of any size for 1 dollar. It is sweet and fizzy and cold – very refreshing. And kids generally like them, too.

Or you could pickup “Snack deals”, like a cheese burger & small chips for 4 dollars, or 3 pieces of chicken nuggets & small chips for 3 dollars. Perfect size and price for light snack.

For more snack menu, checkout their website:
https://mcdonalds.co.nz/menu/more-bang-your-buck

You could also enjoy expresso or cappuccino at McCafe  locations.

Toilet in Shopping Malls

If you are going to exploration and shopping in a city, your best toilet is ones in a shopping mall.

Shopping mall toilets are hygienic and clean, there are many toilet per shopping mall. Shopping mall environment is very family friendly for those with small children.

Shopping malls have many shops inside, so there is no need to buy something at a particular shop when you are stopping off for toilet.

Shopping malls tend to be located near the centre of a city. There are Westfield shopping malls in Auckland and Christchurch, but there are many others all around New Zealand.

Many shopping malls have names like “ OOOOO　Shopping Mall” or “XXXXX　Shopping Centre”. Here are some examples.

• In Rotorua –>  Central Mall Rotorua （https://www.rotoruacentralmall.co.nz/）
• In Tauranga –> 　Bayfair Shopping Centre（https://www.bayfair.co.nz/）
• In Wellington –> Jonhson Ville Shoppign Centre　（http://www.johnsonvilleshoppingcentre.co.nz/）
• In Queens Town –> O'conelle shopping centre （http://www.oconnells.net.nz/）

The main problem with the shopping mall toilet is that, there are no shopping malls in small towns, and that shopping malls tend to close early after dark (regular finishing time around 5:30PM).





Pros of shopping mall toilets

• Hygienic and clean.
• There are many toilets.
• Friendly environment for those with small children.
• No need to purchase at a particular shop.
• You can do shopping or eating out in the mall at the same time.

Cons of shopping mall toilets

• It may take some time locating toilets within the shopping mall
• You need to get off motor way end enter city centre to find a shopping mall
• You can only use toilet during opening hours of the shopping mall
• Only limited number of cities have shopping malls

Shopping malls have many shops and cafes, and often a food court where you can find a variety of budget meals.

It would be a good idea to include shopping mall as a part of city exploration as a toilet stop and a meal break.

Toilet at Petrol Stations

Travelling between cities, you will be making stops along the way at a petrol station to fuel, and to use their toilets.

Petrol station near motorway can be found by watching out for signs on the street. Alternatively you could check their location before hand, using car navigation or google map.

Manned petrol station usually have a shop with staff, where you can purchase some drinks and snacks.

You can usually find toilet at the petrol station. Toilets are either located inside the shop, or outside next to the shop (but the entry into toilet is separate from the shop entry).

Pros of toilet at a petrol station

• There are petrol stations along the motorway.
• You can stop off for toilet at the same time as topping up fuel for your car.

Cons of petrol station toilet

• There are usually only one or two toilet per petrol station.
• Often only one toilet for both females and males.
• They may not be well maintained at some locations.

Recently there are increasing number of unmanned petrol station where only self-service fuel charger is located (and no toilet).

Public Toilets in Parks and Beaches

There are number of public toilets available near or in nature reserve, parks, or beaches. They are very useful when you are visiting these places.

In New Zealand, there is no need to pay to use public toilet. You can feel free to use them when you find public toilets.

The main concern is that public toilets in remote parks or reserves can be dirty and unhygienic. They are often out of toilet paper as well.

So I would recommend you carry a small pack of tissue paper or toilet paper that can be flushed.

If you are travelling alone, try to use public toilet that are in open area with many people around.

If you are travelling alone at night, public toilet is not recommended for security reasons, as well as some public toilets are locked after dark.

Try to find a nearby shop or McDonald during night time, if you need to find a toilet.

Pros of public toilet in parks

• They are available in handy locations like park, beach, reserve, in town.
• Public toilet in town are reasonably clean.

Cons of public toilets in parks

• Some of them are quite dirty and poorly looked after.
• Not recommended at night time.
• Often toilet papers are out of stock, so carry your own.

Toilet at a Supermarket

Supermarkets like Countdown and Parkn’Save also have toilet in store, that can be used by customers.

Our child often feel the need to go toilet while we are doing regular grocery shopping, and end up using toilet at the supermarket.

Toilet at a supermarket may be located in staff-only locked area. If that is the case, ask a supermarket staff, and they will use swipe card or a key to let you into the toilet.

In some supermarket (like Parkn’Save) they have a regular customer toilet you can use without asking a staff.

Pros of supermarket toilet

• Can be used at the same time as picking up grocery shopping.
• Supermarket is located all around New Zealand. Supermarkets are easy to spot even in unfamiliar areas due to their size.
• Supermarket toilet is reasonably clean and hygienic.
• Supermarket are open from early in the morning till late at night.
• Supermarket toilets are safe to use at night as there are staff members at the supermarket.

Cons of supermarket toilet

• Often requires staff key to access the toilet.
• The number of supermarket toilet is usually small.
• Supermarket is large, so locating toilet within supermarket can take a while.

Conclusion: Finding toilet while travelling New Zealand

So toilets can be found at a various locations. Hope these information will help you when you are travelling around New Zealand.

1 hour drive from Auckland: Visiting Pokeno, a hot town for home buyers

This weekend we visited a friend in Pokeno, a town about 1- hour drive from Auckland towards south-east.

So here, I introduce a little bit about Pokeno and Pokeno (Franklin) Market we discovered on our visit.

About Pokeno

Pokeno is located 50-60km south east of Auckland. It belongs to Waikato district, although it is near the border between Auckland and Waikato region.

According to 2013 census, around 600+ house holds live in Pokeno in 2013.

Pokeno was a part of military headquarters during New Zealand War in 19th century; so Pokeno was an important town during invasion of Waikato region, and is still a town with historical importance.

More info：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokeno

Pokeno is also famous for Pokeno Bacon, which is a long-standing shop in Pokeno selling delicious bacons and sausages.

Many people make a stop at Pokeno when they are travelling from Auckland to Waikato region (or vice versa) to pickup some famous bacon and sausages.

In the town centre of Pokeno, there is the famous Pokeno Bacon shop.

They have a range of items for sale.

Pokeno is a rapidly growing town, with many new houses on sale

Pokeno is currently a small town, but is expected to grow and change significantly in coming years.

Pokeno was always a stop-off town conveniently located halfway between Auckland and Hamilton, two large cities in New Zealand.

Recently, increase in housing price all around the nation made houses to be unaffordable, particularly in cities like Auckland and Hamilton.

Following, Pokeno became one of new towns reasonably close to Auckland,  where people could afford to buy a nice-size house.

Move has already started for people hunting for an affordable house, or those who are in property development business.

Also see article：Housebuyers leave Auckland for Pokeno

There are many new houses or sections for sale on major property advertisement websites, like Trademe Property. (Note Pokeno is included in Franklin, Auckland for Trademe Property listing)

Currently you can find 4 bedroom houses from 700,000s, and 3 bedroom houses from 500,000s, which are much better than prices in Auckland.

When we visited Pokeno, we also spotted a lot of advertisement board that said “ 4x bedroom house for XXX NZD!” or similar. We could also spot many new houses being developed.

Furthermore, when you drive on the motorway by Pokeno, you can see that there is a huge development ongoing right next to the motorway.

When we asked our friends in Pokeno about it, they said “not sure what they are doing, but we hear rumors that supermarkets are coming” “In 10 years, Pokeno will be so different”.

It seems that Pokeno IS a rapidly developing town.

Open every Sunday! Pokeno (Franklin) Market!!

In Pokeno, there is a market on every Sunday from 8am - 2pm.

See their official website from the link below:

http://www.franklinmarkets.com/pokeno-market.html

We love market and we had to stop by to the Pokeno market. There were many shops, ones that sell vegetables, plants, some second hand goods, food…..

Our kids were a bit hungry, so we purchased four of 1-dollar hot dogs and ate it on the side of the market.

We didn’t arrive at the Pokeno market until afternoon, so by that time, there were not many people doing shopping.

So for those visiting market next time, I would recommend going in the morning, when the market is really busy and selling.

Beautiful Paua etc… Sea shell shop

In the Pokeno market, our favorite was this special shop at the back, selling many, and I mean MANY sea shells!!

Apparently the shop owner man loves sea shells. He has been collecting them over 50-years he said.

The shop is full of variety of shells from all over the world. From small to large, in various colors.  If you like shells, you will almost have a heart attack seeing all the shells this shop has!

We asked and he let me take a few photos of his shells. They are AMAZING!

Some shells I have never seen before….

Many large size shells are available also.

There were some Cowry shells with carving on it too.

And of course some small-large size paua and related shells…. beautiful!

Price depends on the shell type and their sizes. We bought some cowry shells about the size of our kids fists for 4 dollars each.

There were also shark teeth on display, and many other beach-found items.

Pokeno is famous for 2 icecream shops!!

After finishing at the market, we saw many people across the street.

Mm…? Everyone is eating something!

That’s right, many people on the street of Pokeno town were eating icecream.

It turns out the Pokeno town is famous for two icecream shops located side by side, selling a wide range of NZ-made icecream  scoops for a good price!

Both shops had a huge variety of flavours, and one-scoop size is huge!

They even have a menu like this below:

14 Scoops for 17 dollars. Kidding?

We did spot people buying 4 scoop icecream (2 x 2 rows), however.

Above is just a photograph posted on the shop wall, but if you actually bought a 14-scoop icecream that would make a awesome photo/experience.

I would love to buy one 14-scoop icecream myself, but I will need a team to help me eat it.

Summary of visiting Pokeno

So that was our first trip to Pokeno township.

• Pokeno is a small town south of Auckland
• Historically important town, also famous for its bacon.
• Development going on in Pokeno, and is a hot town for new housing!
• Pokeno market held every Sunday
• Popular icecream shop – offering a tower of ice cream!

It is a good town to stop by when you are travelling from Auckland to Waikato region.

If you are planning on visiting Pokeno, I would highly recommend making in on Sunday so you can checkout Sunday market too.

20 Rental Properties in One Year

Visiting Mossop the New Zealand honey specialty shop!

New Zealand is famous for its honey, especially Manuka honey.

Well the other weekend, when we went to Bay of Plenty region and stopped off at a local honey-specialist shop named Mossop in search for awesome honey and honey-bee encounter experience.

Mossop is a specialized shop for New Zealand honey

Mossop is a family business located in an area called Tauriko highly specialized in producing and selling honey and honey-related products.

The business has 65 years of history and know-how of producing honey has been built over the time and passed down the business.

In the shop, various types of honey are sold including the famous Manuka honey.

Check out their official website here ⇒　http://www.mossopshoney.co.nz/

Tauriko is in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty region. The Mossop shop is located on the state highway 29, and is easy to find.

If you live or travel from Auckland, It is a great place to stop off to checkout locally produced honey, on your way visiting Tauranga or Rotorua.

Awesome display of New Zealand honey bees! 

We have repeatedly visited Mossop over time, and the reason is not just honey products they sell: we like to see the honey bees that produce the honey!

There are many shops in Auckland or other cities where you can pickup honey or honey-products, but there are not many that has display of live honey bee inside their nest.

At Mossop, they have an indoor display of honey bee nest. There is a large glass panel, and on the other side of this glass is a part of the honey bee nest.

So over the glass, you can see many honey bees moving and doing work. 


Honey bee & bee nest display


You can see honey bees working real close!

You are not seeing the whole honey bee nest box, but this type of display has some advantages like it is safe for little children, and you can really get close to the bees.

Next to the live bee display, they have panels full of information about honey bees. There are pictures of work bees, queen bees and drones (male honey bees) on the panel, so you can compare these pictures with the actual bees in the glass display.

You can even try to spot drones and queen bees – you might find them if you are lucky.

This is an awesome way to get to know bees for people who are interested in honey bees, especially kids. Our children love them too.

You are allowed to take some photos by the bee display, so you could get a nice shot of yourself or your kids with honey bees – a good memory of the trip.

Range of New Zealand honey and honey products

At Mossop, they sell various types of honey and honey-related products. In addition to honey that are packaged in a bottles, there is also a bucket-size sale where you buy honey per weight.

You can purchase Manuka honey that way too. The price is very reasonable; 1kg of Manuka honey for NZD47.9, NZD103.7 for 2.5kg according to their website online shop.

http://www.mossopshoney.co.nz/shop/honey/manukahoney.html

You can taste-test honey first before deciding to purchase them. They also sell honey-comb honey, great for a souvenir.

Sweets made using honey like honey fudge, cosmetic products like honey skin cream, and cute honey-bee toys perfect for kids are also sold here. 

We purchased “bee-wax candle set”. We have never seen something like this before; a sweet smelling candle sheet made of bee wax!


Mossop is a perfect place to pickup anything related to honey!

Have a break with Manuka Honey ice cream!

After watching some honey bees and doing shopping, we decided to have a short break with icecream. At Mossop they have a counter with icecreams sold at NZ$2 per kids’ size scoop, or NZ$3.5 per regular size scoop.

Ice creams come in various flavors but there was one in particular, Manuka honey flavor, so we had to try. New Zealand ice creams are the best! Our children were really happy too.

Mossop shop information

Overall, Mossop is a small shop but is a great place to be if you are looking for good quality New Zealand honey and honey-related products, or a bit of honey-bee encounter.

They are open for business seven days a week except Christmas day and New years day, so why don’t you stop by when you visit Bay of Plenty!

Shop name：Mossop
Official homepage：http://www.mossopshoney.co.nz/
Address：761 State Highway 29、Tauriko、Tauranga、Bay of Plenty、New Zealand
Shop hours
April ～September : 9am - 5pm
October～March: 9am - 5:30pm
Closed days
Christmas and New Year’s day
Shot days
December 26th and January 2nd: 10:30am - 4:30am
Phone number for enquiries: +64 7 543 0971
Phone number for shop: +64 7 543 0032