Our first tramp

I'm a little behind on my posts so I will start trying to catch up now! A week or so ago Brian and I went camping at Piha beach, about 45 minutes west of Auckland. Even though we don't LIVE in Auckland, it really felt like a nice weekend getaway from the city. This is Piha:

Not too bad, huh? When we arrived the weather felt really similar to the Washington coast weather; rainy, grey, windy, and cold. It rained for the first day/evening we were there but was pretty nice the rest of the time. Before setting up camp we walked around the drizzly beach and made some beach art:

We set up our tent and tried to set out our damp clothes to dry but we didn't have a line or clothes pins so we had to improvise. Here's a photo that makes us really look like backpackers. (10 min after setting this stuff out, it started to rain and we had to frantically gather everything back up) ;)

In New Zealand there are no indigenous land mammals. There are tons of birds though, and lots of crazy looking ones I've never seen before. There were a lot of ducks at this campsite and they were so tame, like pigeons at home, which was kind of cute and kind of annoying. Everytime we went toward our car to get something out of the trunk they came running over to get ready to jump into the car and search for food. Here's a pic of a pukeke which is a very common bird here.

We've been playing a LOT of bananagrams. This photo was taken right outside the communal kitchen area where we ate all our meals. We were excited to find out that the campsite had a kitchen, but when we got there we realized that you're supposed to bring your own cooking utensils/pots/pans, etc. So we had to improvise again; cooking all our meals in one giant pan/wok they had in the kitchen, and the front desk lent us a knife, fork and spoon.

and here are some of those ducks

Piha beach reminded me a little of Cannon beach, with a big rock called Lion's Rock as Haystack Rock. This is a gorgeous view of the beach from the drive into town (also a great place to watch the sunset).

So after our first night at Piha we went on our first tramp. "Tramping" is the Kiwi word for "hiking" (**sidenote: for Germans "tramping" means "hitchhiking"**). We drove to Karekare beach (where 'the Piano' was filmed) and started our hike from there. Instead of "trails" they call them "tracks" and our tramp consisted of several different short tracks to make one long hike. As soon as we parked the car at the trailhead a torrential downpour started, of course. We sat in the car for a few minutes and it got nice after that. A few minutes into the tramp I was a little annoyed by the mud...

This picture is funny because when I took it I thought I was SO MUDDY and my boot had almost submerged in a mud puddle, but then as time went on I realized this was probably the cleanest/driest my boots were during the whole hike!

It was so slippery and muddy that it took probably 2.5-3 times as long to hike the trail than it would have if it had been dry... so we spent awhile walking carefully and trying to avoid stepping into deep puddles of mud, but about 30 min in we got to river that didn't have a bridge or rocks to walk across it and we realized we'd have to just walk right through.

After crossing the river it was better because our boots were filled with water and mud, and we didn't care how dirty we got after that, and it was easier to hike a little bit faster. All along the tramp I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the place- tropical trees, vivid colors, blue skies, singing birds.

This is how dorky I am now, you guys

After a few hours we approached a beach. This was one of the most breathtaking scenes I've come across yet... Huge rolling hills of bright greens and brown, black sand, and me waiting for a dinosaur to come running out of the hills. It felt like Brian and I were the only people alive in the world. It's hard to believe there's no trace of anyone around you when the place you are in is so beautiful. It felt like it should be swarming with tourists and photographers, but there weren't even any footprints or evidence that anyone had been there (ever, it felt like). Magical.

The tramp was amazing (hehe) but it was strenuous for those of us who haven't been working out or hiking in awhile... so the next day at Piha we just had to relax and rest our muscles.

That evening we went to the bowling club to watch the rugby match. The bowling club is for lawn bowling, but is also a restaurant/bar that hosts all the locals of Piha beach. It was so cute, there was a guest book you had to sign upon entry, and if you're not a member of the club someone else has to sign you in. The President himself came out and chatted us up and signed us in, giving us just another example of that genuine Kiwi friendliness. It never ceases to amaze me.

On our last day we were rejuvenated and spent the day hiking around Piha and Karekare beaches, and here are some photos.

Piha:

Karekare:

This trip was amazing and definitely a highlight of our trip so far. Brian and I also celebrated our 2-year anniversary, yay! :) It was also really fun to camp since I barely did any camping this past summer, and I'm really looking forward to doing a lot more in the next few months.