kotare or Sacred Kingfisher

Birthday trip to Kereta, Coromandel


Knowing that Autumn is just around the corner, I decided to have one last trip away to Kereta on the Coromandel Peninsula. Kereta Waterfront B & B is owned by my cousin Karen and her husband, Dave, and I have to say that as a bird photographer it just keeps getting better and better.


The recent storm has changed the landscape of the beach and it is now a wading bird paradise at low tide. Where it was once flat, there is now a sand (and stone) bank sheltering a meandering stream that eventually leads out to the surf. I sat out on the deck on the first morning of my trip and couldn’t believe my eyes when there were four or more kingfishers feeding in and around the little stream.

Since then I have spent some time sitting out watching the birds coming and going and have seen many different species. White-faced herons, oyster catchers, kingfishers, masked lapwings, NZ dotterels, black backed gulls and red billed gulls. Karen has shown me images she has take out there of white-fronted terns and Caspian terns – I am hoping to see some before I leave.

When the birds are not playing the photographic opportunities continue with the most amazing sunsets over the water and some very interesting cloud formations.  If the lens is long enough there is also a mussel farm in the middle of the Firth of Thames not far from Kereta.  Boats are often seen going back and forth.

We even had a go at surf casting yesterday in the hope of catching some nice schnapper for dinner.  Sadly, casting a huge rod is not a skill I have, but I did manage to hook two on the second day.  There are kayaks and a paddle board here for guests to you too but I think I will pass on those.

We went for a drive this afternoon to the Waiau Falls which is close enough to the road for me to be able to walk to it easily. Climbing back up too a bit more effort but I managed it. I made a few images of the falls while I was there which I am happy with.

Next January I have booked out all the rooms at the B & B for a long weekend and will be hosting a photography weekend here.  There are so many great photographic opportunities on the Coromandel Peninsula that it is sure to be a fun experience. Check out this webpage for more information if you are interested in joining me.  There are only four spaces left.

Two more days before I am home again, so hopefully I will have more images to add when I get home and have time to process them properly.  These ones have been done on my laptop which is not ideal so if the colours aren’t correct I apologise.

© Digitalpix Photography