Day 2. Piha and Karekare beaches

We started the day at Starbucks so we could have access to the Internet. The adventure for the day was to go west to see wild beaches, kauri trees and surfer- hippies. Suzanne was elected to drive (a bit of a challenge on the left side of the road), with Terry as navigator. And what a driver she was! Winding narrow roads, last minute directions, narrow misses...all at Suzanne speed.

Piha beach is gorgeous, with Lion rock as a focal point. We stopped and had lunch at wonderful cafe, had delicious sandwiches, and then went on hike to Kitekite Falls. Beautiful lush walk. Craig swam in the pool at the base of the falls with a trio of zaftig ladies from Holland. One offered her suit to Suzanne, as it was clean-just having been in the water...

On to a beautiful black sand beach called Karekare... wind swept, isolated with dangerous surf. The west coast looks very much like Hawaii, but heavier vegetation. Lots of photo ops. Incredible vistas, neat knarled trees, rippled expanses of black sand... So far NZ is the most beautiful place we've ever seen, and we haven't even gotten to the pretty areas yet!

Back to Auckland, with stops for a cooler and snacks (and as easy as that sounds, finding said items and navigating is a day's worth of adventure right there), which turned into dinner in our room with beer and wine, as we were all exhausted.

But wait! We still can walk to the Sky Tower for a night view of the city...

Leaving in the morning for the Bay of Islands and it may be Terry's turn to drive, oh dear...