Now cruising on 4 wheels

Picture frames in the wild, a gannet colony, and oversized trees all made possible via our new ride. After trading in our bicycles for a new Ford hatchback, that conveniently needed to be brought down to Auckland from Whangarei, we were able to explore a few more areas on the North Island. We first headed east out to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula where we planned on camping at Shakespear Regional Park. That plan never materialized after numerous attempts by Brian to try and crack the combo on the lock at the campsites entrance. I even tried to use my telephoto lens to give us a closer look, but that of course didn't work either. So we spent the night on the bluff just outside of the park under the stars with the waves crashing in on Army Bay below. Fantastic night really. We spent the following day hitching a ride out to Tiritiri Island, a reclamation project by the Dept. of Conservation, to re-establish a native bird population along with a million or so planted native trees and shrubs. We circumnavigated the island and somehow managed to keep clear of the other 148 people that took the ferry over with us. We arrived back at Matakatia Bay in the early afternoon and headed over to the west coast. Our first stop was Murawai Beach, home to one of the island's largest gannet colonies during the breeding season. Old lava flows and rock formations dot the coastline, making up for the beautiful miles of black sand. From Murawai we headed down island to Piha where we camped. Piha is a small town nestled into the valley which shares its name. A small community which boasts some of the most fantastic surfing outside of Auckland. We left Piha to next day and sadly made our way into Auckland. Auckland's skyline couldn't have differed much from that of Seattle. It was almost like coming home, although neither one of us wanted to let the journey end. Auckland wasn't without it's own allure. Our last day in town was spent at the Auckland Museum. The Pacific Island communities and Maori exhibits were expansive collections in both depth and breath; while the natural history section covering New Zealand's origins and context to the land, shorelines and oceans helped to sum up everything I had seen and experienced. All in all it was hard to believe that there was actually and end to all of this. I flew out the following morning at 6:30am. One last post to come later with thoughts and reflections.