Sunrise off the coast of Orewa (still jetlagged a bit so getting up at 4am isn't a problem).
Trying to get around in the city, and paying for parking everywhere we went got a bit frustrating, so Taylor and I headed north to Orewa.
It's a lovely little coastal town near a place called Waiwera ("warm water") a natural hot spring. It's been storming since we got here - a freezing cold wetness that goes stright to your bones. Fortunately the kiwis here set up a water park using the hot spring water with water slides, a movie pool, and a number of pools of varying temperatures (from 30-45 degrees C); so we went there to warm up. It was amazing. I ended up falling asleep in one of the shallow pools for about 30 mins.
One of the reasons for my frozen bones was my shellfish hunting adventure at about 7 that morning. Apparently Orewa beach has a number of shellfish called pipis that are supposed to be excellent eating (according to the manager of the backpackers we stayed at). We went out in the freezing cold water - my feet went numb in about 4 secs – rummaging around in the sand for pipis.
We caught hundreds, so many that our bag started to break, I guess we were getting a bit greedy. Anyways, we were about ready to call it a day when a seal came up out of the water and grabbed the bag right out of my hands! Taylor reacted instantly and was able to seize the bag before the seal got away. His lightning reflexes gave me the time to dive under and start prying the thief's mouth open. Unfortunately, at that moment I saw an image that will be burned in my mind forever. In stark terror I jumped out of the water and started running for shore, shouting for Taylor to “Get out!”. I finally reached the water line and I turned back just in time to see a huge great white shark leap out of the water, blood dripping from its massive jaws. In the monsters wake, I spotted a familiar white plastic bag floating on the waves, torn apart and devoid of any pipis. I can only guess as to the fate of the seal, but whatever happened, I think the rotter deserved it.
All's well that ends well, we headed to McDonald's, I had a kiwiburger (a burger with beets and an egg on it); and we left to warm up at Waiwera hot springs.
Pictures from our random journeying north of auckland.
A number of those are pictures taken directly from the car as we sped along.
