On the (Left Side of the) Road

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Well, I'm on my way and on my own. Two days ago I left the Boggs' house and struck out on my adventure. After a stop in Takapuna to get some maps and information (and a tape adapter so Carrie, my new car, would have some tunes) I headed back to Piha Beach where I knew there was a campsite where I could stay @ a gorgeous place. The drive was fine. I had to stop a couple of times to look at a map and once to ask for directions, but I got here.

When I arrived the view was hazy but still beautiful. I parked the car and went down to the beach and started up Lion Rock. I had gotten up as far as one can go, had taken several pictures and was about to sit down to write in my journal when it started to rain. It wasn't heavy so I got going down the rock but didn't rush. After that I set up camp in the mist and really wished that Austin and Annabelle were with me. I sat in the back of the car and caught up on journaling and then … the sun came out! I was so excited and ran back down to the beach to snap some pictures of the sunset. Everything was so much prettier with some more light on it.

The next day was the first time in this trip that I actually felt like I was in New Zealand, or even somewhere foreign for that matter. I'm not quite sure why I haven't felt it until now. Maybe it's because everything has been pretty similar to home until now. The Boggs didn't have accents and lived in a pretty regular city. It might be in part because the US is so big that going to another state can be like going to another country so much so that when I actually go to a country that's so similar, it just feels like another state. Or it could be due to a gradual move from the norm, going from STL to Oregon, to Hawai'I, to here. Whatever the reason might be, it just hit me today that I was in a foreign place.

In the morning I climbed up and around the southern tip of Piha Beach and was met with fantastic views! After returning to camp for a spot of lunch where I was joined by ducks and another NZ bird like a chicken, but blue, called a Pukeko, I headed off to the Kitekite track which ended with a waterfall that I approached two different ways because I had misunderstood the map. On my way up to it the first time I came across a staircase cut into the trail. On my way back down I counted the steps and there were 252 consecutive steps! Everything surrounding me just seemed so new and exciting. I really wish Austin could have done these tracks with me.

On the way back I decided to do a 3rd track for the day and got back to camp just in time to shower before twilight fell. I cooked dinner and headed to bed to get up in time to make the ferry out of Gulf Harbor over to Tiritiri Matangi island reserve on the opposite coast.

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Photos

Piha Beach
The view from the road down to Lion Rock and Piha Beach.

Pou
Statue or Pou for Ngati Tangiaro Taua, a Maori princess who loved this spot on top of Lion Rock.

Flax Weave
NZ Flax leaf woven by someone else with the northern end of Piha Beach in the background.

Sentinal
Lion Rock from within the campsite where I stayed.

Bach
Before the tourism boom in NZ and the resulting development, the shores were lined with little beach huts like this one called Baches (pronounced "batches").

Thistle Point
Self named lookout over the southern end of Piha Beach.

Lion Rock
Lion Rock was traditionally known as Te Piha. It was named after the wave patterns, which resemble the bow waves from a canoe, created by the rock.

Kitekite falls
Named as a result of the the mispelling of Ketekete, the sound a maori chief to signal an attack of the foreigners here.

Huge Kauri
The Kauri tree is a native to NZ and it's a self pruning tree, unfortunately perfect for logging. Kitekite, where I was hiking used to be used as a logging base.

Silver Fern
This tree fern is the national symbol of NZ.

252!
252 consecutive steps up and down the Kitekite track.