January 6-12th, 2008
Two hours and one reminder phone call after my scheduled meeting time with the Piha Surf Shuttle, I was off to Piha Beach. Under an hour out of Auckland, Piha Beach manages to remain flawlessly beautiful and uncrowded. About a half-hour out of the city, the tropical rain forest starts and so does the beauty of New Zealand (at least for me). The drive was one of the most memorable of my life. The rugged terrain, the green, the open ocean, the waves, and the small town of Piha all took my breath away. I found myself a nice place to set up camp in Piha Domain Campground and stayed there for seven days. I walked, ran, tramped (hiked ahaha, Em, they actually do call it tramping) swam, surfed, played guitar, read, wrote this, and just chilled in general. All of these good things lead to me having one of the finest weeks of my life.
The view of Piha Beach as I drove in from Auckland. I camped in that brown field on the right.
My camp in that brown field.
Nothing like a little black sand to remind you that you need a tan.
A video of Piha Beach.
A picture of me swimming off of the top of the below pictured waterfall.
Kitekite Falls - one of the many places I tramped to.
5 comments:
That a boy! Sounds like your having a grand old time. Glad to hear that after leaving the US, NZ has been dreamy. Enjoy! and keep us posted ;0)
Derek!!! It was so exciting to read news of your adventures on here. We are SO glad you have left the glitches behind in LA. No doubt you will have smooth sailing from here...we think of you often and miss you much, but we are so very excited for you. Rock on! K&D
Hey Derek,
Swimming above a waterfall! EEEEK! Are you trying to give your Mom and Aunties heart attacks????? Just kidding! Good for you!!
Red Aunt
Derek!
looks like you are having a 'tramping' good time!! We miss you here in Vic city!
I like the video you posted, it's like we're actaully there with you!
Em and Trev
Hey Derek!
I finally got a chance to sit down and read your blog today. As I seethe with jealousy in snowy Vancouver, I can't help but smile over your witty banter. Is there such a thing as being a blog writer for money? I think you would be very successful at that :)
Although, I am saddened by the fact you haven't posted anything since the 6th - 12th.
As I'm sure everyone else who reads this blog is doing, I'm living vicariously through your travels... you can't take that away from me!
Hope all is well
~Laura
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