Day at the beach? Yes please!

Once again, woke up and had a leisurely morning. John from Montana had invited me to go to Piha beach and then up to the Bay of Islands with him (he had rented a car for his entire time here) but I had already booked a room at Freeman's for one more night. So, I asked Seema about it, and she was so cute! She told me that she didn't want me to not be able to go because I had already book a bed so that I should go and have a great time! Aww :-) And, as it turned out, this girl Kellie, who is from England but is working in Melbourne, was in Auckland for just a day and planned to go to Piha with John too! And me, being the indecisive person that I am, could decide whether to go or stay and explore the city...but, eventually, with Kellie's persuasion, Seema's understanding, and John's gunghoe attitude, I decide to go! And, after the day's end, it was an excellent decision. :-)

I took backseat in the car and Kellie took passenger and navigator. Other side of the road driving too! John was on day 3 of his other side driving experience.., oh boy! Seatbelt fastened! It took us a bit to find our way out of the city...I hadn't a clue on what to do or where in the world we were going actually...so I just kinda sat back and let them figure things out...

We took an unexpected turn off when we saw some incredible scenery...then stopped every 10 feet to take pictures of something else we saw that was beautiful and spectacular. :-) We drove into this carpark and discovered we were in Karekare – a beach that is known for it's good surfing waves. But, unfortunately, the surfing conditions were “messy” so...dang.

The beach at Karekare was awesome!! Black sand and huge rock cliffs...it was stunning, It was a bit overcast at first, but that made for much cooler sand and a bit cooler temps. The sand felt so great to walk on too! As Kellie said “It's like walking on a brownie!” And it totally was... :-)

We noticed a group of Maori dressed up in grass skirts and flowery tops and a camera crew and the like surrounding them. I thought for sure they were shooting a movie! But...it wasn't a movie...it was a taping for the Biggest Loser!!!! Cool, right!!? I was pretty stoked about seeing that. We kept at a distance, but I think we still might have been closer to the scene then the crew would have liked...but it was the Biggest Loser!! What else were we to do?

Next, we drove to Piha beach on a mission for – beer. It was hot, we were thirsty, and it was beer:30 time as John liked to say :-) But, apparently there is no beer to be had before 5:30 on the Piha beach, so John and I decided to climb Lion's Rock (This GINORMOUS rock in the middle of the Piha beach.) Also, I'd like to add that I am climbing this thing in white, thong sandals...not exactly ideal for hiking up a massive stone structure...

At the top was another incredible view. Piha beach was much more crowded and the landscape was dotted with houses nestled in amongst the mountains. So, the scenery wasn't nearly as serene and starkly nature at Karekare, but beautiful, nevertheless.

We decided the beer drinking would have to commence back at the hostel. So, when we got back to Freeman's, we cracked open a drink and sat down to play “Pairs” with Sarah, Steven, Suguru, and a guy from Finland (who was now one of my new dorm mates). “Fin” went for a shower and both Kellie and I gawked when he walked past us to his room with his shirt off. “Appreciating the beauty,” Kellie said. Yes indeed :-)

We played more cards and made/ate guacamole and hummus with spicy blue chips...yum!! I was all tuckered out from the day at the beach, so by 10:30pm, I crawled into bed...sooo sleepy! And a bit sunburnt... John and Kellie tried to wake me up at one point to go downtown with them, but I was completely out...But, I woke up around 1:30am when they got back from the bars and then couldn't fall asleep again! Kellie was snoring and the guy next to her kept saying “Excuse me, shhhh!! Excuse me!!” So, I got up and went up to the lounge and sent off about 10 CS requests since I figured I would stay in Auckland for the next couple days and sort out my tax ID number and bank account. Plus, I still hadn't seem much of Auckland, so I thought it would be good to explore the city a bit before I left.