January 19- January 21
Shaun with Karekare Falls behind him. About an hour outside Auckland, New Zealand
After our quick side trip to the Cook Islands, we were off to New Zealand for a month. The flights from the Cook Islands are a bit bizzare. The flight we were on left Rarotonga at 1:30 in the morning, which was strange in itself. But you also cross the international date line, so even though we left at 1:30AM on the 18th of January and took a 3.5 hour flight, we landed at 5AM on January 19th! Luckily we knew this beforehand so we booked the correct dates for our B&B!
One of the Air New Zealand Koru Clubs. Star Alliance Gold gets you access. The spread they put out is unbelievable. Love these airlines!
When we were planning the trip during December, we had the great fortune of spending an evening with two native New Zealander's, Lincoln and Therese Tubbs. My friend Jackie has been friends with Lincoln and Therese for years, and we were super fortunate that they came to visit Jackie and Carl over the Christmas Holidays. We went to dinner at Jackie's and spent much of the evening poring over the New Zealand guidebook and getting advice on how to spend our month. We were landing in NZ in the middle of the summer holiday season when the kids were all out of school, so one of the best tips was to start south and work our way north.The South Island would be much less crowded during January and by the time we got to the North in early February, school would be back in session so the North Island would be less crazy.
By the time we left Jackie's the next morning, we felt like we had a great skeleton plan for this part of the trip.
They didn't just hook us up with advice though. We were talking about camping and how we were going to have to purchase equipment when we arrived in NZ and that's where they totally hooked us up! Their best friends from home, Todd and Sarah Flashman live in Auckland and have been avid campers for years. They used to camp as a couple but now they have two little girls so they have moved on to family camping gear. Lincoln was positive that they wouldn't mind loaning us a tent and whatever other random items we needed so we didn't have to buy a bunch of equipment. He e-mailed Todd and within a few days we had a plan in place. We would fly into Auckland, meet up with "the Flashes" and pick up the camping equipment and then take a little puddle jumper flight down to Queenstown on the South Island to start the grand tour of New Zealand.
So we arrived in Auckland very early in the morning on the 19th exhausted but well prepared. Since we were arriving in Auckland and departing from there as well in February, Lincoln had suggested spending some time outside the city at the beaches. Shaun found a really cool B&B called the Lone Kauri Lodge that was about about an hour outside Auckland but a world away geographically. To get to Lone Kauri Lodge we first traveled the highway from the airport, then the main streets of Green Bay and Titirangi (home of the Flash's), then the scenic "Piha Road" and finally, down Lone Kauri road, which consisted of crazy winding switchbacks through tropical overhang on roads that could barely fit two cars. If you've ever driven the Road to Hana in Hawaii, it's very similar to that road, just on a much smaller scale.
The view from Lone Kauri Lodge. Worth every heart-stopping moment of the drive!
Brushing your teeth becomes a real treat when this is the view from your bathroom window!
When we arrived at Lone Kauri Lodge though, it was all worth it! The lodge was literally in the middle of the jungle overlooking the ocean. They only had two guest rooms and when we arrived (at 11AM- very early) the previous night's guests has just vacated the room we had booked. We thought we would need to drop our bags and make ourselves scarce, but Anne was so gracious! She set us up with hot tea and some fresh baked muffins which we ate in the lounge area and then 30 minutes later told us our room was all set. We were absolutely exhausted so we unpacked a few things, pulled the shades and fell fast asleep. By the time we woke up it was late afternoon. We had just enough time to wake up, shower and change our clothes before we headed into Titirangi to meet up with the Flashman's!
Our visit with the Flashman's was wonderful. Todd and Sarah made us feel so at home even though they were leaving the next day for a family camping trip! They ordered in some fabulous pizza from a local place called Hell and we opened up some wine and just got to talking. Their two daughters, Lily and Piper, were as beautiful as they were charming. They even gave us our own hand-painted ceramic mermaids to take on the trip! Not to be outdone, Todd and Sarah hooked us up with a tent, a rain shield, sleeping mats, a set of pots, a non-stick skillet, a set of plates, cutlery and mugs. By the time we left there we were all set with with everything we could need for camping and even better, some new friends! We are looking forward to our return trip to Auckland when we will meet again!
Fun with the Flashman family! Todd, Sarah and the girls, Lily and Piper
The next day we made the most of our time at Lone Kauri. We woke up to a wonderful continental breakfast of coffee, yogurt, toast, homemade jams and tons of fresh fruit. When we finished breakfast, Anne even packed up the leftover fruit into a tupperware for our hike. After consulting with Keith for a while on different walks, we decided to split the day between Karekare beach and Piha beach. We packed up our day packs and we were off.
The drive down to Karekare was just as crazy as the drive to Lone Kauri. There were lots of crazy hairpin turns and one lane bridges. At least the roads are clearly marked so you always know which driver has the right of way!
We took the short trek to Karekare Falls before heading to the beach
First stop was Karekare. To get to the beach you have to cross a small stream. Shaun found a spot with rocks to cross, but I decided to just take off my hiking boots and walk through. After you cross the stream its all sand for what seemed like half a mile. The surf here is deadly so even though there were only about 5 people on the beach, there were two lifeguards and two signposts that indicated the 20 foot area where you were allowed to swim. It was pretty cold out so neither of us wanted to swim yet, so we continued exploring the beach. We ended up spending a good amount of time climbing the jetty at the end of the beach which was the home of lots of sea creatures like crabs and starfish, and had spectacular views on the other side.
Karekare beach. Please swim between the cones!
Next up was Piha beach. Like Karekare, Piha beach has deadly rip currents, so much so that it now has it's own reality show called Piha Rescue! At Piha we walked the length of the gorgeous beach which went on for close to two miles. At the end was a huge natural breakwater filled with tidal pools. There were crabs everywhere! We spent a while exploring the breakwater before making our way over to the brush where there was a trailhead. We walked the well groomed but steep trail for about 20 minutes until it opened up onto a gorgeous view of the secluded bay below. After taking some photos and catching our breath, we headed back down the trail and across the beach to the life-guarded section of Piha. Shaun took a quick swim while I soaked up the sun on the beautiful beach.
Piha Beach- those rocks are very far away
One of zillions of crabs we saw that day
Shaun starting the trek up the trailhead at Piha
By now, it was getting late in the day and we needed to get supplies for dinner so we headed back into Titirangi. An hour later we were grilling up some steak and veggies on the gas grill at Lone Kauri Lodge. When we finished up dinner, Keith brought us both some homemade vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries. What a perfect ending to this perfect day!
The next morning we had another great breakfast at Lone Kauri Lodge and then packed up our backpacks and camping equipment into our duffel bags, making sure to distribute the weight evenly so neither duffel weighed more than 44 pounds. (The weight limit for a checked bag). We were flying from Auckland on the North Island to Queenstown on the southern part of the South Island. We were picking up a car in Queenstown which we would have for just under a month. That would allow us to explore at our leisure and easily transport all our camping equipment. But first we had to get there, so it was back to Auckland Airport and the Air New Zealand terminal. We really enjoyed our first few nights in New Zealand and we were even more excited for what awaited us on the South Island! Next stop, Queenstown!
Sunset on the drive out from Auckland to Lone Kauri Lodge. Sigh.
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