Piha Beach
Smokey in front of Rangitoto.
Swimming in Devonport.
Beach afternoon at O'Neills Bay.
Walking on a stormy day.
Smokey the dog remains ultimate hiking, swimming, roadtripping and surfing companion.
Scott was back in his homeland sorting out his American Business visa and a few things were happening with EditMate in the southern hemisphere -- so in January, I flew over for a New Zealand summer. It was a joyous reunion with Smokey. And Scott too.
Black sand at the west coast's Piha Beach.
Partly because she didn't fully understand where New Zealand is located, but mostly because she's a fantastic friend... Jessica came all the way over from Boston to visit, for just one week!
Jess on the bus. She hates public transportation, so this was notable.
Brunch at the Piha Cafe
Jessica is my former roommate, eternal birthday partner and has been my best friend since we were 13 years old. She's the vital kind of friend who despite time or distance, whenever I see her we're right back into giggling like we did in 7th grade English class. It was wonderful to get to do that with her all over the North Island of New Zealand.
It can be easy to hang with other backpackers when traveling but if you're going to really experience a new country, it's more fun to find natives to show you around. Many of my outings around Auckland consisted of checking out all the local surf spots with these two charmers.
Cam + Scott
Te Arai Point
Maori Bay
Piha Beach
Scott would check the surf reports and we'd cruise around in Cam's van, frequenting Te Arai Point, Maori Bay and Piha (I never surfed Piha...Piha would eat me alive. I'd read The Department of Speculation and work on my tan at Piha).
Cam could always point out the local floral and fauna while Scott showed me how to paddle out the back without "looking like a bloody jelly fish". Eventually, I got the hang of changing into a wetsuit in a parking lot and even grew some surf muscles.
The day after Christmas I got the best gift of all. My friend Sandy flew all the way from Boston to do a 3 week road trip around New Zealand with me! She skipped the 25th of December all together (it's fine, she's Jewish) to get here and we had a joyous reunion at the airport consisting of the kind of jumping up and down and high-pitched shrieks that only obnoxious American girls can provide.
We picked up our fully-equipped Spaceship camper van, had a big catch-up night in Auckland then hit the road in the morning for an afternoon at Piha Beach on the west coast.
Lion Rock.
Piha is a little beach town that's famous for it's black sand, surf culture and intense waves (it's also where the reality show "Piha Rescue" is filmed). We enjoyed the strong sun, a hike up the very steep Lion Rock, fresh fish and chips and the pretty horses.
This was Sandy's first ever camping experience and she just decided to go big by living out of a camper van for 3 weeks straight. What an adorable champ, look at her!
Our Spaceship camper van was awesome the whole trip. Driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right side of the car (and the windshield wipers/blinker sides reversed) was a bit of trip. We adapted quickly though, with only a few panicked screams of "left side! left side!" when turning onto an intersection. But that's all part of the adventure.
