Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove

I stayed at Whitianga for a short while. My hostel was facing the beach, which was right across the road, and should you want to, you can watch the sunrise every morning.

Growing ears to the general hostel chatter I joined myself to a group that was going to rent a car to go to Hot Water beach (because transport and ferry were both so expensive and non flexible with times).
We stopped at some other beach first, which was hailed to be one of the best beaches in the world. We dipped our toes in the water and decided to beat it out of there. Ocean water temperature in the spring is "invigorating".



We beat it to Cathedral Cove then. The bush walk down was pretty pleasant, and the high noon sun was beating us out of our clothes even before we got all the way down to the sand.
The area of Cathedral Cove is pretty amazing. There is even a small waterfall where you can have a romantic picnic. We loved it.

 

Hot water beach was different than we expected. For one thing, it was much hotter thought it would be. I was thinking something like warm sand, but it was hot enough to scald. Hot enough to cook your 2 veg and meat should you be careless enough to sit down before feeling the water first. That's why, I recommend dipping a toe in first to check. Some woman was even cooking some eggs and potatoes. Definitely a unique picnic idea!

We did bring some shovels with us from the hostel, but we didn't need to dig our own hole. We sorta took over someone else's 'nest'. Even without digging a hole to reach the water, some parts of the sand were just too hot to step on.

I all just reinforces my original impression of New Zealand that it's like Jurassic Park but without the dinosaurs.





The way back was just the perfect ending to the day. We stopped at a local winery. I wish I just remembered the name. The owner was a real character. He let us taste everything. We even stayed to have pizza with wedges (large potato fries). I only like booze when its sweet, and that place had enough fruitiness to match the owner. Feijoa wine with spritzer (soda) is a must try. I think most people decided to get a bottle of that after trying out most everything else.
Oh, I love some of the kiwi jibes at the aussies.

Q:What's the difference between Australia and Yoghurt?
A:Yoghurt has more culture.

Piha

 
Piha is located about 45 minute drive from Auckland. It is known for it's black sand (which companies want to mine and locals keep fighting against since the 30's) and the only place in the country where there are grade 5 rip currents.
Apparently there is a TV show called Piha Rescue where usually some foreigner who is not used to the aggressive currents is swept away and then rescued by the long suffering local lifeguards.
It is also a pretty bad-ass surfing spot, or so I was told by one guy who actually DID surf the crazy waves. 
The black sand (which at first looks like normal sand with some black deposit on top, unless you dig a little and it becomes darker) gets REALLY hot. I felt like I was walking on coals for the brief time I managed to walk before breaking into a run to jump on top of some kind soul's beach towel.

Franklin Rd

In Auckland, there is a street called Franklin Rd. By day, this is just a regular residential street. By night, however... it turns into a Christmas Las-Vegas of sorts. Every single house is lit up and decorated. Music is playing or being played live. Sometimes carolers would gather. And there is a real crowd of people walking up and down every night, some dressed up in Santa hats and some of the really small children are even in costumes. It's like Halloween, only with Christmas.

 

A man and his dog on a warm spring night listening to Christmas music sung under empty clothes lines.

I was lucky enough to stay in Auckland when the Red Bull drifting event took place. Down Franklin Rd, is Victoria Street. It was closed off and an obstacle track of sorts was constructed (including an elevated truck called "The Undertaker", a car wash, round obstacles a car can go around and curved walls). A driver is given 50 seconds versus the course to basically gather points by drifting close to obstacles. There are proximity sensors on the obstacles and the driver must hit all of them to earn "a combo". Pretty intense to watch, I gotta tell you. The neg of this is breathing burned rubber and picking up tiny pieces of tires from your hair afterwards.

 

Auckland

 

The city of sails. Despite being the largest city (about a third of NZ's total population) , it doesn't feel all that big - just really sprawling.

It has a compact downtown. Mostly centered in Queen Street. The rest is very green ,clean and suburban, with the added charm of hills everywhere.

 

 

Art in the Dark - Western Park

Queen street

Mt.Eden crater

Auckland Museum

Aotea Square

Mt. Cook/Aoraki National Park

Originally, when I was planning my trip to NZ (like a week before I actually left there), Mt.Cook was the second thing I was going to see right after Christchurch. But due to a confusion with my vineyard exchange date, I ended up moving a few things around to accommodate a new travel schedule and this ended up being on my "to do list while on the way back up again". 

Might've been for the best - mountains are somehow more dramatic when are topped by snow. Also apparently, between the peak period of summer and the skiing season starting July, I landed on the perfect quiet time where the most popular track - the Hooker Valley Track is not busy.

Something the brochure didn't tell me - there are no supermarkets in Mt.cook village. Really. You can buy some supplies from the hostel or the Hermitage hotel but there are no supermarkets. There is even a school and a yoga class, but no supermarkets! I just found it surprising as I know people come here to do a multi-day hike and isn't it just sensible to make the village a supplies stop of some sort?

The village is tiny - it takes 10 minutes to go from one end to another.
Surrounded by mountains - I found them slightly a strange combination. On one side - the hill is covered by thick trees and vegetation. Opposite it are high mountains, bare of vegetation, but at the base - yellow sweeping grasses and low trees/bushes that remind me somewhat of Africa.

Hooker Valley Track must be the most fun hiking track I have undertaken so far. It hugs the mountain, and goes along the river, and has 2 swing-birdges and ends with a view to Tasman Glacier.

The Tasman glacier