Cape Reinga, Lord of the Forest, this is not Piha!

So since I've been back from the south island vacation stuff has happened. Unfortunately, I haven't finished posting all the days from the trip-i think there are about 5 left- but I will get to those in time.

Therefore, the following posts will hopefully update you about what I've been doing the past three weekends, well, what I've been doing besides homework/writing essays/going to bars and night clubs.

Three weekends ago a few of us were craving to be on the road again after our journey on the south island. We decided to rent a car and drive up the north island. Although I've been to the Bay of Islands we never made it all the way to the top. So Kevin, Amanda, Pam, Lorissa and I spent all Saturday driving through the countryside up to the Cape. We made it just in time for the sunset.
The interesting point about Cape Reinga, besides the fact that it is a spiritual site for Maori(they believed that this is where their dead went before ascending to their version of 'heaven') is that it is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.

It is the coolest thing to see because you can actually tell where the two meet because of the waves breaking in the middle of the ocean. The resulting whirlpools were amazing to watch.


If you look at the bottom right corner of this picture you'll see islands just along the horizon. There is an old story about a Maori chief who claimed these islands for his iwi (tribe). The greatness behind the story is that he swam to the islands to claim them for his people.




After watching the sunset, we drove back down 2 hours where our hostel was located. It was right on the water and was one of the nicer hostels we've stayed at. After making a stop at the liquor store across the street-before it closed at 7pm- we sat out on the lawn overlooking the view. And it was again that we saw the and hazy but brightly lit milky way just beyond the black ocean.

The next morning we woke up to make the drive back South. This time, we drove along the West Coast, and through the ancient Kauri Forest.

This was a random beach that we stopped at. It was kind of a bay? I have no idea actually. We were looking for these massive stones that were supposed to be really great. We couldn't find any and guessed this must be the wrong place after walking around for thirty minutes. Still, nice enough I guess.
And then we reached the Kauri Forest and Tane Mahuta- Lord of the Forest. The largest Kauri tree in New Zealand is estimated to be around 2000 years old. It was a tree and it was massive.

We finally made it back to Auckland, but that wasnt the end of our weekend. We had the rental car until 10:00 am on Monday, so we woke up early the following day to drive to Piha, a black sand volcanic beach that was made famous by the movie "The Piano". Well, we never made it to Piha but here are the pictures of Whatipu, a beach just 45 minutes directly West of Auckland.

Somehow, it is always so obvious when I get back to Auckland after a much needed break from the city. Like a beacon of civilization, the skytower ominously finds me, even when its behind. It reminds me that I'm destined to spend the weekdays in the city again, not out in what feels like the middle of nowhere; surrounded by beauty so striking it looks more unnatural than the concrete and glass facade of the skytower's reflection in a dirty campervan's rear window.