Weekend of 25-August:
West Coast: Karekare & Muriwai
This weekend started off with a trip to the mall. We visited K-mart (different from American K-marts) where I bought a bike! This will be an easy way for me to get back and forth to work each day, since it's about a 25 minute walk through a big park with a great biking route (photo below).
My walk to work is through a big park called the Auckland Domain - parts of it look like a rainforest, it's really pretty. We joined a gym this weekend that's right on the route home from the hospital.
On Saturday evening we went to the All Blacks game - we had a big victory against the Australia Wallabies. A highlight was The Haka.
On Sunday, we drove out to the West Coast, about 45 minutes from Auckland. The way there was on a one-lane winding road essentially through the rainforest - it put the new car to the test.
When we arrived to Karekare Beach, it was stunning. The coast has black sand, which was old volcanic ash that got sent down the river towards the Tasman Sea and eventually washed up. There were sand dunes on one side and cliffs on the other, heading out to the sea.
We followed this trail until it stopped - and we realized we had to wade across the river.
The Tasman Sea, black sand beaches.
From the road, we could see the Karekare Waterfall in the rain forest.
Turkey sandwich picnic near the waterfall :)
We drove from Karekare through farm country up to our next stop. There are sheep EVERYWHERE lining the countryside.
Next stop - Muriwai Beach. This was the view from our parking spot.
Amazing views from the trail at the top of these cliffs.
Muriwai is known for its Gannet Colony - this type of bird. They mate in August, and will have baby gannets in the summer. When the babies are big enough, apparently they fly off to Australia, and then eventually will fly back here to breed when they're older to keep the cycle going. Gannets were everywhere - they are quite big, and kept soaring right by us.
A cute gannet couple.
Until next week!
Lorena & Ross
