New Zealand

 December 2019

Ben's family lived in Muriwai, and were kind enough to put us up for the month of December. It was wonderful to be so close to the beach again, as the UK, for its many charms, was rather lacking in beautiful beaches, at least in the areas we lived.

Wanting to make the most of the lovely weather and nature NZ has to offer, we decided to take a little camping trip together for a couple of days in December. We headed up north to the DOC campsite Uretiti

Being early December, we had the campground almost to ourselves, which was wonderful. We were right near the beach, allowing us to take beach walks every day. 

The water was freezing though, so we only swam a couple of times! It was a typical Northland beach, huge and sweeping, going almost as far as the eye could see, with sometimes wild winds and big waves.

We took a day trip to the Waipu Caves, involving a short bush-walk. It was very pretty, and apparently if you go far back enough, there are glow worms in the caves. However with only our phone torches and sport shoes, we weren't well equipped enough to go far back. Once we were far enough in that it became pitch black and the water was higher, we gave up.

The next day we took a day trip to Mangawhai Heads, another beautiful beach with sweeping views and great walks. 

We took advantage of the beautiful beaches as much as possible, as it was turning out to be a beautiful New Zealand summer, and we had years of no beaches to make up for!

Camping trip over, it was time to acquaint myself with the city again. My best friend Shyla had organized a prosecco brunch in the city for us as a belated birthday present for me.

One of the nicest things about being back in New Zealand again aside from seeing my family was getting to see Shyla again, and we tried to make the most of it.

I had forgotten how lovely summer in NZ can be, and we took full advantage of Ben's family's pool, drinking beer and lazing in the sun.

It wasn't all lazing around however, Ben's family had signed us all up to the Speights West Coaster, an 11.5 km walk/run starting at Bethells Beach. 

We walked it, but it was still incredibly challenging. The day was very hot, and the climbs were very steep, so by the end (something like 3 hours later from memory) we were utterly exhausted. But we did it!

Soon my brother in the UK was flying out for Christmas, and we were able to day trip up north with him to one of our favourite places, Matakana. 

Charlies Gelato shop resides here, and it's always worth a summer trip for icecream amongst the vines.