In the middle of March, we went on our first real weekend trip. Until then, we have been busy with getting settled in, shopping for this and that (we’ve definitely seen our share of shopping centres), and with Birk going on a five-day camp (more about that in another post).

Day trips

We have also done some day trips, for example to Auckland city centre (great views from the Sky Tower) and to Long Bay Regional Park north of here. We were also invited to my host’s farm, in the countryside on the other side of the Auckland, where they keep Icelandic horses. The kids and I also did some windsurfing on Lake Pupuke – which actually is a volcanic crater (Auckland is built on 50 volcanoes, and the most recent one erupted 600 years ago, it’s the pointy island that we face from Narrow Neck beach, and I definitely want to climb it). We were also invited for a ‘real’ Indian dinner by my new friend Mohini (we met at the conference in January), which we all thought was very delicious and a lot of fun!

Zig-zag in the dark

On a Friday afternoon, when the kids came out of school, we threw our bags in the car and joined the queue on Lake Road, trying to get out of the peninsula. The highway to the north was closed at some point, so we had to divert via Waipu Cove, which was perfect to have a nice dinner. Our trip did include some more bendy roads early on, and that only increased the further we got from Auckland. Especially the final hour of the trip was a complete zig-zag and, by then, it was pitch-black – there did not seem to be many people living in that area. It was also a bit difficult to find the Airbnb since we had to rely on a description which said things like ‘on the right hand side you will see a green house’ and ‘the house is on the hill’. But we managed, and were rewarded the next morning with the most amazing view over the bay below. Those pohutukawa trees! They are magnificent.

Orca’s and the Hole in the Rock

On that Saturday, we drove to Russell, which is close to the Waitangi treaty grounds (Birk can tell you all about that now, he had it in school!), to take a boat tour through the Bay of Islands. We were on a big boat with about 150 other people, cruising through the bay, looking for dolphins and on our way to this Hole in the Rock. We were quite lucky because we saw three orca’s and they came very close to the boat, so we got a very good view! Then we continued onto the Hole in the Rock, when the captain asked ‘So, do you think we fit in that hole? Yes, we do. Do you think we’ll go through it?’ And then he actually went for it, and that was pretty cool too!

Waipu Cove again

The next morning was another brilliant morning with fantastic views, and this time I went down to the beach for a swim, and discovered some fantastic rock pools that I could sit in. The water unfortunately wasn’t warm (at all) but it was really peaceful, especially compared to the quite wild waves of the sea itself. Then we slowly made our way back to Auckland, again via the bendy roads and Waipu Cove. Birk was quite local in that area after having spent his camp there, so he recommended we stopped at Langs beach because there were some great waves to play in. So we did and that was fun!