We had an unplanned trip to the Muriwai Gannet colony last month. As always, the fine weather was the deciding factor. As we came out of Chipmunks after attending a children’s party, the sun was shining so brightly that I thought it would finally be a good time to fulfil my son’s birthday wish to go bird watching.

I’m not sure where he got this notion to go bird watching, but for someone who just turned five, it seems to be a bit out of character. But as he kept asking about it, I remembered that there is a gannet colony in Muriwai so we wouldn’t need to travel far. He also watches a TV show called Takapu the Gannet of the South Seas with some scenes actually shot in Muriwai, so I thought it would be a good idea to bring him there.

My first time going to Muriwai beach was purely unplanned, as well. We were planning to go to Kare-Kare beach where they shot the movie “The Piano”,