R&E instantly set about trying to get rid of their van at the backpackers' car market. That meant I didn't see an awful lot of them for a few days. Luckily timing was ideal and my rowing friend Bea was visiting from Oz prior to her parents arriving for an NZ holiday. So Bea and I went off to be tourists whilst R&E were van salesmen.
We definitely got the best of the deal! Our first visit, in Bea's little rental car, was to the pretty suburb of Devonport where there are amazing views over the city.
We didn't spend an awful lot of time there though as it was raining and didn't look like it was going to improve much. Instead we headed west for sunshine and surf at Piha Beach.
Piha is a nice little place that is entirely set up for surfers and nobody else. You can't swim because there are really dangerous rip tides, and I wouldn't imagine it would be a very good place for inexperienced surfers either as the surf is complicated, breaking with awesome force in a different way with every new wave. It's pretty impressive to look at though and we enjoyed having a picnic on the beach and watching the surfers.
After lunch and a paddle we got back in the car and drove along more windy roads to Karekare Beach. Poor Bea, driving, also felt a little carsick. Karekare was worth the effort though. Jane Campion used the beach as a location in The Piano (when Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin arrive with the piano on shore) and it lives up to its cinematic reputation. It was wild and almost deserted, and we felt like we had it to ourselves. The black volcanic sand made for some rather pretty patterns and we both indulged ourselves with arty shots:
Like many places in NZ, Karekare has significance for the Maori and there was an elaborate pou near the beach, and near the car park. When we arrived we spotted a newly-wed couple getting their photos taken by it!
Back in Auckland that evening we indulged in pizza and cheap bubbly by the harbour - a lovely way to end a nice day!
We decided not to drive the following day, instead doing a bit of Auckland. I went to an exhibition at the Auckland Museum about the colonisation of the Pacific by waka, or outrigger canoes. Thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating to find out how the early Polynesian settlers travelled thousands of miles in these slender vessels to colonise new lands. Walking through the Domain afterwards Bea nearly trod on a weta. She was reassured to learn that unlike Aussie insects the weta isn't harmful and looks worse than it is.
At the weekend we drove to Hamilton to see another rowing friend, Lucy, who's living in NZ with her Kiwi rower boyfriend and working. We timed the visit exactly right as we managed to be there for an end-of-season rowing party involving togas (aka cheap sheets) and lots of beer. It was good fun, the Hamilton rowers were incredibly welcoming, and we enjoyed catching up with Lucy. She drove us down to Lake Karapiro the next day where we watched a couple of races in the NZ national trials and we reminisced about rowing at home. I miss it! Looking forward to getting on the water here as soon as possible.
The last day of our little road-trip was Monday and we ended up in Raglan, another surf paradise but one a little more built-up than Piha. Bea was keen for me to try surfing but by the time we'd got to the surf school office it was too late, so we just walked down to the beach instead. Actually it was a good thing we hadn't wasted money on surf lessons because the waves were very small and it might have been a bit dull. I'll learn elsewhere. However like Piha the beach itself was very pretty. We got in touch with our younger selves by cartwheeling along the beach.
Back in Raglan we hired kayaks for an hour and paddled around the estuary, where there are curious limestone formations with little caves to explore. Unfortunately neither of us had a camera, but they were well worth looking at with weird structures and shapes galore. Fish and chips finished off the day before we headed back to Auckland and parted, Bea to find a room for the night and me to meet R&E.
They arrived a bit later, full of glee for having managed to sell their van just minutes before they had to leave the car market. Unfortunately it went at a knock-down price, and there's now some lucky tourist driving around NZ in Chuck Norris and hopefully having a good time. We headed north; that'll be the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment