Today was a really pleasant day. We took our time leaving the campsite and gradually made our way over to Ponsonby. We were meeting Carli Eger for lunch and as Yogi Berra would say, it was déjà vu all over again. We first met Carli when we landed here six months ago and it was really good to see her again. We spent a delightful two hours catching up and of course telling her everything we have done on our trip.
We finally had to let her go as she is studying for mid terms. It was a real fun, relaxing afternoon.
When we left Carli we wanted to go to west Auckland for a couple of days but we had time to take a drive up Mount Eden. Mount Eden is the highest natural point on the Auckland Isthmus with a summit of 196 meters above sea level. Once you reach the top, not only can you get a good view of the surrounding area but you can see the majestic bowl-like crater. The crater is 50 meters deep as the volcano erupted several times with the last one around 15,000 years ago.
The View
The Crater
We left the mountain and turned west with the ultimate destination being Piha, a small village on the Tasman Sea. It is very secluded and was quite a drive getting there, not in length, but definitely a challenge. We got a real good look at it from a vantage point just prior to descending into the village.
The sky was starting to get quite dark so we headed for the campsite and checked in. There are a lot of hikes in this area as well as the beach. We are hoping for a nice day but the weatherman is saying no such luck. He is calling for rain.
Day 176 started out with the weatherman being right. It was raining and raining hard with a lot of fog. There was no sense doing any hiking or trying to take pictures. So we just hunkered down and did a little reading, did a little blogging and we even watched a movie. It wasn’t that bad of a day.
Day 177 was exactly the same as yesterday. It rained, a steady downpour that didn’t seem to want to let up. So we did pretty much the same as we did the day before. We did get a break in the weather or so I thought. It did stop raining late in the afternoon so I grabbed the camera and headed for the beach. It’s a shame the weather was what it was as it really was a nice beach. It was a black sand beach, as most are on the west coast with Lion Rock right in the middle of it.
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| Lion Rock |
It was easy to tell the Kiwi’s are a lot heartier than we are as there was a lot of activity on the beach. People were swimming, there was quite a few people surfing and there were even surfing lessons going on.
Piha is considered one of the most dangerous beaches in the north island but is still one of the most popular in the summer. Many people from Auckland make the beach a part of their summer. The rip currents along this section of the coast are very unpredictable and shift with little warning. They claim many lives despite the efforts of surf live-savers. Most of the drowning occurs after lifeguards are off duty or after rock fisherman wearing heavy clothing are washed off rocks.
The dangers of the beach prompted a New Zealand reality television show which is aptly named “Piha Rescue”. It is in its third season and features the lives of the surf live savers on Piha Beach. I decided to stay out of the water, I really didn’t want to be on TV.
I was half way up the beach when it started to rain again and I was soaked by the time I got back to the camper. Still I was glad it eased for awhile and I got to see the beach.
When I was coming back from the beach I realized how isolated the village was. It is completely surrounded by mountains. I can see why people like it here.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
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