15 June: Our First Truly New Zealand Experience

I woke up this morning, to the smell of toast, bacon and eggs sunny side up. Neil had cooked breakfast for K and I. Kinda like reciprocal since we cooked dinner last night. I didn't really like it though, but i think K loved it. It's more his kind of breakfast. I gave him my egg yolk and the fatty part of the bacon. = )

After breakfast, we left and drove off to visit all the famous beaches and bays in Whitianga. Today must have been the most exercise we have ever had since we arrived here more than one month ago. We did more than 2 hours of walking (2 way) in the forest / jungle to reach the bays and beaches. Most of the walks were on dirt tracks / walking tracks in the middle of the forest, and were full of uphill climbs and steps. So it was definitely not an easy walk for us. That was when we realized just how out of shape we were, cause we were panting and exhausted half the time.

But i was happy.. Really happy. All the difficult climbs and walks were worth it, cause of the beautiful scenery we saw along the way. It was really the most New Zealand thing we have done so far. K said New Zealand has nothing to offer except nature. And we haven't been connecting with nature too much since we came here. Cause it's either too cold, or it's raining most of the time. But today's weather was beautiful. And every time we stopped walking, our destination is always a beautiful, beautiful sight. It's either a very peaceful bay, where we just sit on the rocks and hear the sea, or a calm beach with lots of seashells, or huge waves crashing, or just an amazing view.

This beach is so full of seashells everywhere we walked we would accidentally break one

Me sitting on a tree trunk on the seashell beach
The big waves that i so love to watch = )
One of the views we got on top of some cliff / hill after a long walk


Me just sitting on the rocks and admiring the gorgeous view.. = )


For lunch, we stopped over at a little cafe at Cook's Beach. We had smoked salmon burger and nachos with hot peach tea. K and I sat there for quite long, enjoying the food and reading the free magazines there. We both read an article in National Geographic about world food shortage. It's quite worrying cause our world population is really growing too fast to feed. It's really a vicious cycle. We need more meat to feed the growing population. Which means we need more corn / grain to feed the animals to get more meat. But corn and grains are also used to produce ethanol / corn oil etc, which we also need as fuel. And beccause we need to grow more corn / grains, the farmers need more land space to grow crops. So forests are burned down to make space for growing crops. And this causes environmental pollution problems... So it's either we all die of world hunger, or world pollution. I was shocked at the number of people in the world who are dying of starvation every day, and i feel so blessed i have food to eat everyday.

We finally decided to leave the cafe around 3pm, and guess what? The cafe was closing, so the owner gave us all her unsold muffins and food! We took home 6 raspberry and white chocolate muffins, one vegetable quiche, and a chicken wrap. I was delighted at the thought of having muffins for breakfast tomorrow, cause i had been craving for it, but K refused to buy cause it was quite expensive. Haha.. looks like it's fated!

We went to 4 locations in total: Shakespeare Cliff, Stingray Bay, Gemstone Bay and Cathedral Cove. My favourite is Cathedral Cove, cause it's the most beautiful, and the waves were much bigger. It'ss basically a beach with a huge cove that connects with the beach.. We walked into the cove and K ducked into the beach before i could say anything. I hesitated for a long time, cause the waves were coming in fast and furious into the cove, and i had to literally run fast to get to the beach before the next waves crashed in. I shouted for K to come back, then we run together. And it was worth it, cause the beach beside the cove was beautiful too. We saw a few people kayaking. Here are some photos of the cove and beach.. I will try and post the You Tube video with K commenting in the background.. = )

Us inside the cove with the sea at the back..
Me safely on the beach after running from the cove..



The dash back from the beach into the cove was another challenge for me. I nearly got the waves crashing into me as i run into the cove that i screamed so loudly as i ran. And i was so embarrassed, cause when i entered the cove screaming, there was a group of people there taking pictures.. K just stood there and laughed at me..

We headed back to the car after the cove, and drove off to our last destination for today: the Hot Water Beach. This is a beach that is said to contain hot water from molten lava deep underneath the earth that had escaped through cracks in the ground. One would have to wait for low tide to dig holes in the beach and find the hot water. Low tide was supposed to be at 520pm. We reached the beach around 5pm, and was there until about 6pm, but the tide never went low. There were many people there trying to dig, but everytime they digged, the waves came and filled the hole with cold sea water again. Either that, or the spot they dug did not have the hot water. Only certain spots on the beach had hot water. So irritating. K and I also brought along a spade we borrowed from Neil and Glenis, and we too dugged.. It was fun. We managed to get the hot water for a bit, after digging a few normal holes with cold sea water, and it was really really hot, like boiling water.. So can't stay inside for too long. Anyway, we only dip our feet inside the water. There was this couple who wanted to go entirely inside the hole they dugged, cause they were dressed in their swimming costumes. Crazy people! It was so windy and cold!! = ) Anyway, the couple did manage to find a hot water spot and they dug really deep for like 5 minutes. Then a huge wave came and covered the hole with sea water. They gave up after that.

The huge wave also sent me screaming again cause i didn't run fast enough and most of my legs wet. We all got cheated cause the tide never went low. The only happy people were the surfers.. haha.. We left around 6pm and headed home to prepare dinner.

K digging hard for our hot water hole..

Me "pretending" to dig.. = P


On the way home, Neil texted us and asked if we were lost cause it was time to prepare dinner.. haha.. it was funny. Neil and Glenis had agreed to purchase the ingredients while we cooked. K and I made the same dishes for dinner as we did the first night: Stir fried vegetables, omelette and chicken porridge. And again, both Neil and Glenis were super impressed they kept complimenting us, and they even asked us for the recipe.. I think K couldn't sleep that night cause his head got too big with praises.. = ) I had ice cream again for dessert, this time with muffin.. It was yummy..

We went to bed early tonight. I finished my first book "Joy Luck Club" and passed it to Glenis. K and I had wanted to finish watching the remaining 2 DVDs, but he was too tired. We had to wake up early the next day to "check out" so in the end, i decided to go to bed too.. Tomorrow will be another long long day, cause it's gonna take 6 hours to get to our next host family in Gisborne!!

1 Response to "15 June: Our First Truly New Zealand Experience"

  1. Hollywood Tai Tai Says:

    Wow, the beach house is the nicest place you have stayed so far and you got the whole place to yourselves. I was also so excited to hear Glenis say that your tummy looks round. Yay! 3 more days!