Day Trip to Piha

Way back in February, when Kelly, Kim, Dana and I went to the Auckland Cup (the horseraces), the rest of our group took surfing lessons at Piha Beach. Piha is one of Auckland's West Coast beaches, famous for it's black sand. We didn't care much that we missed out on the surfing, but we didn't want to leave Auckland without having seen Piha!

So, Kelly, Kim and I rented a car for the day and took the 45 minute drive out to the West Coast. It was a nice drive: first, through Auckland's suburbs and then on very windy roads with lots of hairpin turns through the Waitekere Ranges.

It was a beautiful beach and it wound up being a great day trip out. We got to see Lion Rock (a large rock/hill on the beach that Piha is known for). Here's Kim and Kelly in front of it (you can get an idea of the size):

We even climbed Lion Rock, and this gave us some nice views over the beach. We walked down to touch the water, but of course it was cold at this time of the year. We only saw 2 other people while we were there, plus 1 surfer who was brave enough to face the water!

Here's some pictures from the day:

We also drove about 5 km down the road to another beach, Kerekere. In order to actually get to the beach, you had to cross this stream. The bridge was undergoing construction and we didn't feel like getting all wet trying to cross the stream (plus we were getting very hungry for lunch!) so we just took a picture of the stream!

On a side note, we got use of the rental car again later that night when a group of us took a trip to "Spookers," a year-round Haunted House type place. That's not typically my kind of thing, but I had a fun time anyway. The house was very intricate (since it's open all year, they don't have to dismantle it and reassemble) so it was a fun experience. They take it pretty seriously though - you have to be at least 16 years old to go in! Another weird thing: the people who jump out at you are actually allowed to touch you (this would never happen in the US, but here in New Zealand, it's "no worries" and anything goes). So it was an interesting experience with people coming over and chasing you around with a knife, or grabbing your arm or touching your back. One woman cornered Cate and was rubbing her hands all over Cate's face and neck. (In case you are getting too freaked out, they did tell you that you can put your hands up in front of your face and yell "Stop" and they will back off.) Some people in our group decided to do the "Freaky Forest" as well as the Haunted House, so while I was waiting in the car with Kelly and Lynn, a man with a chain saw came over to the car, opened the car door and turned on the chain saw inside of the car. Kind of creepy. But I'm getting off topic here. What I really wanted to say in this post was simply: Piha was nice!