I flew out to New Zealand on Wednesday to meet my family to trip around the top of the North Island in motorhomes.
We hit the windy roads to Piha in the pitch black and arrived to no open fish and chip shops – devo! Found the RSA and sat down for drinks and dinner. True to a typical small town, the guys drinking beers and playing cards at the front jumped up to cook our dinner.
Woke up on the beach, waves crashing and went for an early wander around the shore. Piha is one of the most dangerous beaches in NZ and you can see why with the rips and rough, smashing waves.
I caught a crab that was hiding under some seaweed I was throwing around. It grabbed both my jandals (which admittedly I had thrown at it so I could catch it easily) and as punishment, we kept him for bait. Nobody screws with my jandals!
Spaghetti on toast in the motorhome for breakfast then along the roads to Karekare. The road was narrow with overhanging branches and there was a few times I wondered if we would get to there at some points. Apparently a TV show called 800 words (that I’ve never heard of) was filmed there and my rellies wanted to check it out.
We parked up and walked down to the beach in the cold and drizzle. It looked like Lord Of The Rings with the grey colours, black sand whipping around and the endless clouds that cover the NZ west coast.
A rainbow appeared over the island just out from shore and the sun peeked out for long enough for us to realise the sun sparkles with silver glitter in the light.
That evening we met my parents in Hahei, on the east coast in the Coromandel. After eating what only felt like carbs and crap for a few days, I was keen to get some veggies in and cooked us all up a big stir fry. Not the easiest in a motorhome kitchen with tiny frypans but we got there. My brothers Dan and Luke arrived from down south for a few nights (lucky them got a cabin) and they were full of stories from their latest adventures.
Unfortunately we had no luck night fishing but had a good time lying out in the dark, looking at the bright stars and hearing the roar of the waves.
As with every beach, we explored, climbed trees, waded across the streams and looked for critters.
Hot water Beach then Whangamata are next, not sure where after that then Tauranga and back to Auckland to fly out on Wednesday night.
