On sunday we drove into Waitakere Ranges to see Kitekite falls, Piha beach, and Bethells beach. First came the hike to Kitekite. The walk was stunning. Even though the forest was very similar to ones I had already hiked it, there were completely different birds in the trees and a very blue stream running alongside the trail the entire time.
Here we are at the falls!
Before hiking to the bottom of the falls, I hiked up to the top with a guy named David. The view from the top wasn't very spectacular but once we started hiking back to the vans, we realized how far up we really were. If you look closely, you can see some people at the top of the falls and that's where we were!
Next stop was Piha blacksand beach. This place really reminded me of the Oregon coast with all its sandy beaches and strange rock formations. But the rocks here were even larger than the ones in Oregon.
Everyone else in our van was pretty content just to climb Lyons rock, but Maurice and I wanted to explore more of the beach so we walked over to see the blowhole and keyhole rock formations.
Then we climbed Lyons rock anyway cause we still had more time before moving on to Bethells beach
On to Bethell's beach! This was my favorite stop of the trip. This beach was little bigger than Piha and there were lots of sea caves to explore.
We ended the evening by watching the sunset over the ocean. I still think Bellingham has the best sunsets in the world but this one was pretty nice too.
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