Waitomo NZ (1)

Coming out from the cave

Great little car

I came to Auckland after New Year I was only allowed to take vacation then because I had to run a couple of projects while everyone else went on vacation.  Jon flew back to NZ a couple months earlier.

Summer in Auckland was warm and sunny - we did a few things around the town (had the ride on Jon's scooter to the beach) then we packed up to go to Waitomo because Peggy recommended it. 

Our transportation is Jon's little white 2 door car with 200 or 300K under the belt, the driver side door handle is dangling almost wanted to claim independence (I had to keep an eye on it while driving in case it flies off) and it has only 4 gear wow, amazing - I love this little white Toyota.  It is big enough to stuck a bike, rollerskates and all our gear - 2 computers and stinky undies in the back. 

We drove through Raglan and that other little coastal village.  Beautiful beach but it has turn much commercialized so we drove further down south inching close to Waitomo.  We stopped by a big sand dune beach - before the beach, pine plantation turned sands into forest for miles.  Shallow rooted pine seems to adapt to the sandy soil very well.  We walked over the huge sand dune finally get to see the flat huge black sand beach.  Only a few people around, some of them carried spade start digging holes in the beach. 

Jon explained that NZ people like to build sand castle for kids to play, some times adult plays also.  When ties come in and sand castle crumbles and it is time to go home. 

After the big black sand beach we stopped a little town Kawhia and jumped from the pier with the local kids.  We checked with a local old guy standing around the pier to see it is safe to swim across the big river - he said yes.  So we jumped and started our challenge - it wasn't as easy as it seems.  The current is very strong and I got nervous so I signaled Jon that I wanted to turn back. 

After we got back to the pier the kids said to us they are told not to swim out and the old guy said he is quite happy that we decided to turn around.  Huh?  We started to chat and he explained the black sand beach is actually a natural hot spring beach.  People dig a bath at the beach to enjoy the hotspring, so much the castle story - I almost believe Jon's story.