Category Archives: Locations

Places around the world

The Bridges of Whangarei

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There are three beautiful and unique bridges in Whangarei.  Matt and I cross each bridge on our daily walks around the Hatea River.

The Canopy Bridge

The creator of designed this beautiful bridge using his inspiration of the sails, spars, and mast of a sailboat. The city council opened this bridge in 2011 and has won several awards for its unique beauty.

The Canopy Bridge lights up with vibrant colors that reflect off the river and neighboring boats.

The Canopy Bridge is the sight for many home-town fairs and markets in addition to a frequently used crossway for pedestrians, cyclists, and runners.

Te Matau a Pohe “Hook” Bridge

This is known as the Fish Hook of Pohe.  It is 265 meters long, 17.7 meters wide, and took 18 months to construct.  The bascule is 25 meters long and 17.7 meters wide and weighs 390 tonnes.  The “arms” are 19 meters higher than the bridge deck and each contains 67 tonnes of counter weight.

A truly spectacular sight to behold both on land and from the river.  The bridge operator raises the bridge every time a boat needs to reach one of the 5 marinas up the river.  The bridge takes 5-7 minutes for the bridge to be raised, a boat to pass through, and for the bascule to lower.

It is truly fascinating to watch this huge bridge 

The Kotuitui Whitinga Bridge

This is the smallest of the three bridges and only used as a foot bridge. 

The operator can use a remote to open this bridge using its central rotating section. Once opened it allows smaller vessels with a height greater than 2.3 meters.

This particular bridge has beautiful abalone shells broken into which make it sparkle a rainbow of colors.  So pretty!

We cross each of the bridges on our morning walk. The “loop” is approximately 3 miles long and takes us about 45-50 minutes.  

Each bridge is beautiful in its own unique way and brings such joy to those who cross them.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events. We were in Whangarei from October 2025 to January 2026.

Be sure to check out the magnificent time pieces of Whangarei in our last blog post.

Telling Time in Whangarei

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In the fair little town of Whangarei you can find 4 spectacular time pieces and a curiously delightful clock museum.   All of these mechanisms that tell time can be found within a 50′ radius of each other.

  • Sundial: The largest in the Southern Hemisphere
  • The Time-Ball which is the last remaining time-ball in New Zealand
  • The Ball Clock showcasing a magical combination of mathematics and physics
  • Towering Pinnacle Clock

In the photo below you will see the “black ball-clock, towering clock, rolling ball clock, clock museum, and sundial.

The Majestic Sundial

Romans made sundials popular back in ancient times. They used these clocks as a way to synchronize their daily activities.  Sundials were invaluable for centuries despite their many limitations.

The sundial in Whangarei is reportedly the largest in the southern hemisphere.  It’s gnomon stretches 22 meters into the air. 

The clock masters can even adjust the time to accommodate Daylight Saving time.

Time-Ball

The Town Basin Time-Ball was used as a measurement of the precise time and dates back to 1833.  It is located at the peak of the marina office roof and promptly falls every day at 1300hrs (1:00pm).

Coastal communities had constructed about 150 time-balls on prominent harbor foreshores.  This was the traditional method of telling time until 1934 when the radio time signal became more commonplace.

This is the only time-ball in New Zealand.

Rolling Ball Clock

The Ball Clock is by far the most popular tourist attraction in Whangarei.  Dozens of people gather near the clock to watch the balls drop at key times.  It is one of our favorite things to do at 1300 (1:00p) as you watch 28 balls zing across the rails.

This is a mathematical and physics dream come true.  This machinery encompasses gravity, balance, equilibrium, movement, gears, wheels, and chains,

As time progresses, the balls either tip into the next rack (which displays the actual time) or return to the magazine.  The balls will travel via banked corners, loops and spirals.

What time is the lower left photo showing?  Answer at the bottom of post.

Towering Spiral Clock

The towering clock stands tall and proud in the heart of Whangarei.  

Claphams National Clock Museum

Of course there has to be a clock museum in Whangarei with so many clocks all centralized in one area.

This is a small, quirky museum with every type of clock you could imagine squeezed into a very small space.  Certainly interesting to walk through and fun to see clocks from decades ago.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual events.

We stayed at Town Basin Marina from late October to early November 2025.

Don’t miss out on our blog post “Racing Rally Cars in Whangarei.”

The rolling ball clock was showing 8:05am.

Racing Rally Cars in Whangarei

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We spice up a rainy afternoon with the Whangarei Rally.  I was not sure what to expect other than cars racing on a gravel track.  Boy, was I misinformed!

Let me explain the difference between a road rally and track racing (for those of you who are unaware, like me).

Track Racing

Track racing is direct competition against other cars on a continuous, predefined closed circuit.

Drivers compete against each other and rely on their own personal knowledge of the track and their own sight.

Car Rallies

Car rallies, like we saw, involves racing against the clock on a variety of surfaces (road, gravel, dirt). There is a driver and co-driver who navigate public roads and off-road courses using pace notes to guide them through turns and hazards.

Competitors race on a point-to-point course, which can be both sealed (paved), unsealed (gravel, dirt), public and private roads.

Rally drivers race against the clock and rely on their co-driver for navigation and pace.

Their goal is to arrive at the end of the segment on the designated time. 

If they arrive before or after they will be penalized.

The cars must meet all open road requirements (street legal).  Which means, when the cars are transiting from point A to point B on the open road, they must adhere standard laws.

Any type of car can enter the rally as long as they meet all racing standards including a roll cage and fire protection. 

These rally cars can be standard modified cars or street legal rally cars. 

Whangarei Rally Getting Started

So much anticipation…which way do the cars come? Will they get “air” when they go over the incline?  Will they slide out around the corners?  Can we see the finish line?

We asked some spectators which route the cars take and quickly learned we did not want to be near the finish line.  The fun, more spectacular viewing was on the track by a sharp corner and small incline.

We had two safety cars car run the track to ensure the track was good before the race started.  Then the “0” car came out to run the track at the speed of the rally cars.

There are 2 days of racing with 10 segments the first day and 8 segments the second day.  We watched the last 2 segments around the gravel track on the first day.

If you look at the Whangarei Rally map (see link below) you will notice that most of the segments are on the road.

Let the Race Begin

The entry fee was $20NZD which benefits a variety of local charities.  Each charity sends volunteers to work the event.

We find a spot on the grassy hill just in front of the sharp turn and the small incline. The Whangarei Rally drew about 450-400 people spread throughout the track and on the bridge overlooking the finish line.

The officials stagger the start of the cars every 30-45 seconds behind the previous car.  The staggered start time ensures the dust clears – giving full visibility to the next driver.

The cars race in front of us and as you can see they come in all shapes and sizes.

The top left (white car) and bottom right (Skoda car) are zipping around the hair pin turn and kicking up lots of dust and gravel.

The first turn is right after a straight and most, if not all cars created a mast dust up.

After the 2 segments which took about 1.5 hours we went to the staging area to meet the teams.

Vanuatu and New Caledonia both had cars racing in this event! Each team leaves the cars in Whangarei while the drivers fly in for the races.

Ask me how I managed to score a Vanuatu Rally Car pink hat 🙂

Whangarei Rally Links

We spent the next day listening to the rally cars racing on the streets.  

We watched the Whangarei Rally cars in early November 2025.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.

The last scheduled blog post was on Fiji Day.  Don’t miss out on this annual traditional celebration.