The return of summer

By Nicole

After spending the holidays catching up with family and friends in Seattle, we returned to New Zealand a tad heavier and a lot paler. I’m not going to lie, Washington was cold! And dark. But it was absolutely worth it to spend Christmas with our family, catch up with good friends and devour some amazing food. And with summer in full-swing back in New Zealand, we got the best of both worlds. Here’s a taste of what we’ve been getting up to since we’ve been back. Yay for summer!

Baylys Beach and Dargaville:
Back in Rarotonga, we met a Kiwi guy who was crewing on a boat heading from Aussie to Tahiti. Over plenty of beers and happy hour snacks, we heard about his family’s dairy farm on the North Island and about the sweet surf beach he grew up on. As we parted ways, he told us to look him up when we got to New Zealand, which we totally did. Next thing we knew, we were hanging with him on the west coast, checking out his lovely steel ketch (aptly named Steel Breeze), driving on the beach, hitting up a pool party and crashing at his bach (Kiwi for beach house, and pronounced “batch”). Sweet as. Thanks, Shane!

Baylys Beach – famous for surf and for being the longest drivable beach in the country (over 100 km)

Just taking a drive on the beach, as you do.

Pool party! After a month in chilly Seattle, the summer sun felt incredible. Thus my huge smile.

Prawns on the barbie

Morning light at Shane’s bach. I could get used to this.

Shakespear Regional Park:
Just up the road from our marina is one of our favorite places to take a walk – Shakespear Park (yes, it’s spelled that way). It’s great for bird watching and especially great for sheep watching.

Aaron disinfecting his shoes to protect the kauri trees

Sometimes you just have to mow a trail

Looking out at Auckland and the volcano, Rangitoto

A tui eating nectar from a flax plant

Here, sheepy, sheepy, sheepy

The hills are alive. Although with my voice, they probably wish they weren’t.

Waitakere Ranges Regional Park and Piha Beach:
Just west of Auckland City, you’ll find the Waitakere mountain range. It was the perfect spot for a day trip.

Where’s Aaron?

Maori carvings are anatomically correct. Nice.

Arm shot, Waitakere-style (that’s why-tack-er-ee)

Driving through the Waitakere Range drops you out at the surf beach of Piha. Stunning from a distance …

… Chockfull of people up close.

Testing the water temperature (cold)

Piha coffee break (at some point I’ll need to vent about the coffee here, but that’s for another day)

Mini golf!

Look at that form and concentration. But will it be enough to win?

Aaron tallies the scores … Nicole’s the big winner!

In addition to exploring the northern Auckland area, we also had a ton of reunions with old cruising buddies who ended up here in NZ. We went tramping and BBQing with Mark formerly of Compass Rosey, had dinner with Michael, Sara and kids from Wondertime (whom we hadn’t seen since Mexico!), met Adam and Cindi from the good ship Bravo for lunch, and hung out with Zack, who flew over from Aussie. It’s been heaps of fun!

Next up, a trip to the Coromandel Peninsula where I play Tarzan (Jane?) on a rope swing …