Killer Beaches

Day 193- We stayed at a campsite that was within 'striking distance' to Auckland so it was a short drive into the city. Or at least it would have been had we not been distracted by a wandering dog. We found this cute guy walking across the highway like he owned it. Luckily, I speak K9 and he came right over for a pet when I approached him with my dog lingo. He was friendly and he was lost! We called animal services and they came right over to pick him up. For a brief moment, we considered keeping him with us... What a great companion he would make in our little home. The dog was quite happy to see the animal services employee and it turns out he is a regular escape artist in that town.

                     

   

We found a little cafe in Auckland called 'Fridge', where we set up shop for a couple of hours to eat meat pies, drink coffee...and yes you guessed it... work on the blog. 

Lately, we've had some friends and family commenting on the state of Mike's beard and some whispers about what kind of treasures are buried deep within. I don't know about treasures but if you look close you can clearly see that a little bird has mistaken it for his nest. Oh dear. 

Delicious meat pie below. Mmmmmm

                        

After the cafe we headed to the mall to take care of some business. The first order was to get Mike's beard and hair cut. I love the beard but not the birds. Then we headed to the store Kathmandu to buy some new hiking shoes. The original shoes we brought on the trip finally fell apart enough that we couldn't comfortably hike in them.  With many hikes in our future, it was time for an upgrade. 

After the mall closed, we went to the movies to see the new flick, Sisters. It gave us quite the laugh and helped us forget about all the money we'd spent during the day. Later that night we drove to our campsite at Whatipu lodge. It was a long, scary and nerve wrecking journey that took much longer than anticipated. As we were leaving town a violent rain storm ripped through the area making our drive along the side of a mountains edge slow and scary. It was dark, the roads were wet, our front windshield was fogged up and after we had gotten too far to turn back we realized that we were almost out of gas. When we finally made it to the campsite, we were relieved but the stress from the drive and our need for gas was dampening our spirits. However it would have to wait for the morning because we were exhausted.

Day 194- We awoke in the morning and got our first sight of the place where we'd spent the night. It was gorgeous. The ocean was behind us, the forest was in front of us and other than a few campers, we had it all to ourselves. The man who takes care of the land told us that we couldn't leave without seeing the beach. Although this place wasn't our intended destination and we were in fact on our way to a different more well known beach, there was something in the way he said it that convinced me to go. The man also sold us some emergency petrol so we were already feeling better about our decision to park at this spot for the night. 

Dark black sand led the way. 

When I came out of the trees, I was stunned. The contrast between the sand and the ocean water was awe inspiring and I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

While I walked the shoreline, something caught my eye in the distance. What happened next will go down as one of the most amazing moments I have ever experienced.

                           

A family of 5 killer whales, no more than 15 meters from where I stood, swam in front of me. It was incredible. Mike, while on a run, started screaming at me from further down the beach to step back. He later told me he had visions of the whales swimming up on shore to kill me for pleasure. If you ask me, he's been watching too many youtube videos because I was sure they were just coming in close to say hello. I couldn't contain my excitement and screamed for joy for the whole rest of the day. It made the beach we were supposed to see, Piha beach, seem much less amazing. On the way to the famous Auckland oceanfront Piha beach, we stopped at a cafe to re-energize. I told the owner of the cafe what we saw and she was not only interested but shocked. She said that she'd lived there her whole life and had never seen a killer whale and it was very rare to see. This made me even more excited about our whale sighting. 

Below is Piha beach. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful but it had nothing on Whatipu beach. 

After a day by the ocean, we drove to a small town close to the Coromandel Peninsula to sleep behind a library for the night. Not just any old library... a library with a futuristic 'super loo'. 

                            

Day 195- We drove further up the Coromandel region and stopped in a town called Whangamata. Mike and I were getting on each others nerves and needed some space... I mean we have spent the last 195 days together. I visited the beach and swam in the wicked waves, then enjoyed a tea at a cafe while I caught up with my sister. Mike sat in the van, utilizing a Spark wifi hotspot to work on his hobbies. We reconvened in the evening and drove to a freedom camping site. Freedom camping used to be all the rage in New Zealand but things have tightened up all over the country and the ability to camp wherever you choose has diminished. Too bad but I suppose they have to protect this beautiful environment. We found the one you see below on our app and it was nothing more than a parking lot jam packed with cars. But it was free! If you can see the blue cooler, our little Jazz is parked right beside it. 

Day 196- We woke up early to make our way to Hot Water Beach for low tide. The beach is a local phenomena. It has two spots where a person can dig a hole and it will fill up with hot water but it's important to go at low tide to avoid getting washed away by the cold ocean. When we arrived, the amount of tourists was off-putting and everyone was fighting for their spot. We didn't want to bother trying to get into the action so we decided to return later that night for the evening low tide. For the time being I had some important wedding planning business to take care of for my childhood friend Lisa, so we found a cafe with decent wifi and I got to work. We spent the next 4 hours there, eating, drinking coffee and researching. Once I was satisfied and felt more in tune with wedding details, we found a caravan park near Hot Water Beach called Seabreeze. We paid $40 bucks to spend the night but we had a few extra amenities to enjoy because of it. They even lent us shovels to dig in the sand so we wouldn't have to use our pot and pans. 

While we waited for 11 pm to arive, we sat in the main lounge area of the caravan park. Mike noticed two boys playing their nintendo DS and he was instantly distracted. They were from France and didn't speak any english so I translated for Mike. They complimented me on my french and I blushed in return. It was the first time I'd spoken it since we left and I wasn't sure how I'd perform. Turns out, by a 10 year old's standards, I wasn't so bad.

When we returned to the beach later that night, it was just as we hoped. Empty! There were maybe only another handfull of people scattered along the beach, trying to find a hot spot. We took our shovels and started digging. The water was hot. Too hot. Our feet would burn instantly so we needed the cold ocean water to mix in to make it bearable. There was only one problem. The ocean was far too angry and it was making big waves. Every time we'd dig a hole, seconds later it would be drowned out by the waves. 

We ran into an israeli guy that we'd met at the freedom camp site the night before who was really nice, so we all took turns digging as fast as we could, then we'd each sit in the hot pool for a few seconds before our bodies would be shocked by the cold ocean. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. Worth the effort in my opinion. 

It was great to have a hot shower to come back to at the caravan park and we looked forward to a good sleep to prepare us for a big drive the next day. 

Next stop... the land of volcanic splendour.