Beau Vista Pohara

05/08/2024

The dark clear skies over Golden Bay are perfect for astrophotographers. Although I wasn't able to see the aurora colours with the naked eye from Beau Vista Pohara this time (unlike the great aurora on 11 May), last night was an awesome opportunity to get out and practice a few shots of the aurora with the milky way.

21/06/2024

Locals say to expect rain when Mount Taranaki can be seen on the horizon all the way from Golden Bay. Judging by our view this morning and the weather forecast, it looks pretty accurate as it seems we're in for another wet weekend. 🌧

17/06/2024

No matter the weather or the season, The Grove Scenic Reserve in Clifton never disappoints. These photos were taken today when the sun came back out to play; peeping through the nikau fronds onto the wet limestone walls sculpted by the rains. 🥰

16/06/2024

After months of settled weather, winter has finally arrived in Golden Bay with an impressive and long seen southerly charge that brought dramatic skies and rain for much of the day.

25/05/2024

Beautiful sunny Saturday for a long high tide walk along Pohara beach this morning. Loved the domino waves.

19/05/2024

Wainui looked splendid in its autumn colours today 😍

24/04/2024

It's the second week of the school holidays and the weather has been amazing. Today, after a beautiful midday wetsuit swim at Tata, I cajoled our teen to climb to Rawhiti Cave just 5 minutes from Pohara. It's a steep track up to the huge cave opening, and it's worth the sweaty scramble up dodging rocks and tree roots. It took us just under 1 hour to reach the top and 40 minutes to get down. Judging by all the passing tourists' smiles and comments, we've got a very special attraction in our backyard.

23/04/2024

How exciting. We have great spotted kiwi near Farewell Spit!

The great spotted kiwi was picked up on camera about 40km from its nearest known population.

28/03/2024

What a stunning start to the long weekend! Have a great Easter everyone!

18/02/2024

Summer is far from over here in our little back yard paradise. Yesterday, I swam at Tata. Today, at high tide, we decided to swim in this golden sandy beach. Who can tell me which beach this is?

17/02/2024

Sometimes it's worth checking other beaches. The boys were put off a late afternoon swim as the wind had churned up sandy choppy waves at Pohara. I went to check out Tata and the water was crystal clear, warm, with beautiful big bouncy clean waves and no chop. And only a few people to share it with. Heaven!

15/02/2024

We had a photographer stay with us at Beau Vista and he was jealous of my . I don't blame him, they are looking magnificent this year with their many heads attracting lots of bees. 😍

12/02/2024

We received a very lovely email this morning: "Friends have recommended. Do you have availability for us?" 🥰

We did and they booked direct; saving $180 in overseas booking agency fees! 😱

They can instead spend their money locally - maybe having fun kayaking, or on a scenic flight, or a restaurant meal, or two. 🥳

11/02/2024

Did you know that Golden Bay has a big 4m tidal range? What this means is that when the tide is low it goes out a long, long way from shore. And when it comes back in again, it races back. King tides at full/new moons are especially wide - today the high tide peaked at 4.3m and dropped to 0.2m. It's quite something to walk across the sand islands to the farthest exposed point on Pohara beach knowing you'd be 2-3 meters under seawater if it was high tide. The leisurely walk to the low tide peak and back is just over 9km return from Beau Vista Pohara...

18/01/2024

We've some interesting temporary weather this week. Still and humid. Drizzle then dry. Loved looking out across the moody half moon sky last night, seeing the silvery moon rays pop out over the sea in-between the clouds. 😍

10/01/2024

With hot temperatures the next few days, and sublime clear cool sea, we're making the most of it. One guess which beach we were swimming in after work today ...

02/01/2024

Oh yummy! Very excited for our friends Dani and Gonzalo who have started a new real fruit icecream business in the heart of sunny Takaka called Golden Real Fruit Ice Cream. Customers are already queuing! If you are in Golden Bay this summer, make sure to grab a mixed berry waffle cone icecream. **Recommend!!**

01/01/2024

Happy New year! What a start to 2024 (when compared to the last few days of rain and strong winds!). Today is the epitome of summer heaven - warm, blue sky, calm sea, gentle breeze, and vivid colours everywhere. Perfect for R&R after last night's celebrations. Haahh, bliss. 🥰

30/12/2023

We hope you are enjoying these festive holidays. Pohara and all of Golden Bay is the busiest we've seen it ever, even with the mixed weather we've been having. Thankfully sunny settled days will return to welcome in 1 January 2024. To all our friends and guests we wish you all a joyful healthy New Year, and hope that somewhere over the rainbow your dreams will come true.

10/11/2023

We have a new website! And, you know, Blogger doesn't look too bad. It's work in progress, but it's pretty exciting. What do you think? We'll populate it with blogs and photos of the many walks and places of interest that we visit. Check it out.

Beau Vista Pohara is a large private self-contained studio apartment in sunny Golden Bay, New Zealand. Wake up to natuve birdsong and the most magnificent views over Pohara beach, and across the Kahurangi mountain to the Farewell Spit.

05/11/2023

Listening to our tui evening song cast across the silence on this Sunday night. It's such an enchanting call. Please put your volume up high.

14/09/2023

One of the joys of living near native bush is seeing Kereru roosting in our trees, being bossed by tui and bellbirds for sugar water, and occassionally spotting an unbanded family of young Kea flying around before they plump down on our roof for a squawky chat. 😍..

30/08/2023

This is tonights beautiful blue moon over us in Pohara ♥

25/08/2023

We just had a very nice lunch at the newly opened Nikau cafe and bar in Pohara (formerly known as The Penguin). It is such a nice venue ideally sited on Abel Tasman Drive opposite Pohara beach and the campground. After being empty for two years it's wonderful to have this local venue back open again. They'll definitely have a busy summer as there's plenty of room inside and out to dine with family and friends while looking out at the sea.

19/08/2023

If you love taking photos of the and the in truly , a little known and absolutely stunning setting is over looking Golden Bay from the deck at Beau Vista Pohara. You can't get a more convenient place to see the milky way set over the Kahurangi range. 😍

13/08/2023

The Grove Reserve in Clifton must be the most beautiful short walk. The sign says 30 mins not because it takes that long to walk it, but because the rocks, nikau and native fauna are so breathtaking that it'd be rude to pass at pace. So I did it twice today. First circuit took 27 mins with oohs, ahh's and photos, second round took 8 mins, plus another "ahh" at the lookout!

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06/08/2023

With several attractive flowering tree lucernes nearby, a couple native kererū (wood pigeon) have started roosting in our trees around sunset. Like tui and kea, kererū irridescent feathers come alive with colour in the sun. Since the extinction of the moa, these are now the only bird species large enough to swallow the fruit of karaka, miro, tawa and taraire native trees. So they're vital for the regeneration and spread of our native forests.

03/08/2023

This was the first of August's two full super moons that set over the snowy peaks of Golden Bay's Kahurangi range this chilly morning. This Sturgeon Moon actually reached its peak on the 1st. On the 30th August we'll see the full Blue Moon and the closest supermoon of the year!

21/07/2023

Our beautiful golden bay photographed from our deck at Beau Vista Pohara. 😍 Have a lovely weekend everyone.

13/06/2023

Our still clear winter sunsets have been so utterly jaw dropping the last few days that I took this photo just for my mobile background image. It gets me smiling every time I use the phone. 🥰