| We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on the night of 7 January 2006. We were met by some friends and my cousin, Warren and his partner, Kim. Our friends were kind enough to let us live in their house in Torbay on the North Shore for the 2 weeks that followed. This helped us a great deal. Between all of them, our introduction to New Zealand, was made a lot easier. |
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Long Bay was the first real sight seeing we did. We also live in Torbay now and
Long Bay is about 5 minutes away. On the odd occasion I go down there for a run.
The beach area is about 1.5 km long, making a nice little 3km run when I'm
feeling up to it. Probably wouldn't make it much further than that!? Ingrid and
I often go there for a relaxing stroll. - (Wayne)
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On about 12 Jan we picked up our new car, a Kia Sportage 4x4 SUV. So far I have had no trouble and I am very happy with her.
The nice surprise was that this car cost me half what I would have paid for it in South Africa - some consolation, considering
the exceptionally high cost of housing here, certainly a lot more than in SA. -
(Wayne)
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Awaruku Reserve is one of the few that lie hidden within the suburb of Torbay.
I say hidden because you have no idea they are there until you venture down one of the paths
in what seems to be your average suburb. If you look at the photos, you wouldn't think they were
taken in the middle of Torbay. I found this quite fascinating... - (Wayne)
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Only half an hours drive north from Torbay, you will find places like Mahurangi Regional Park. There are many places like
this (many regional parks) tucked away in little corners all over the place. Sometimes they are tough to find, and sometimes
you just happen to stumble upon them. You must just be prepared to drive around a little...
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We took a drive to Tauranga for the weekend to go visit my cousin, Warren and his fiance, Kim. The trip takes about 2.5 hours and the scenery
along the way is beautiful. I can't remember if it was on the way there or on the way back that we stopped for a short while at Karangahape Gorge.
Well, it was beautiful anyway - take a look at the photos. We had a great time and Tauranga is just amazing. Warren has since moved to the south of Auckland,
so I get to see quite a bit more of him. Its nice having some family so close. Don't know what I'd do without him? - (Wayne)
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We were invited to go camping at Muriwai. After having spent all of our time so far on the east coast, Muriwai,
on the west coast, is a totally different picture. The sea is a lot wilder and the waves are like I know them - big enough to surf on. Many people
drown annually on the west coast because of the rough seas and very strong currents. The camping
site is quite jacked up and there are many such sites all around New Zealand. We hope to get to see many more of them. Further down the beach, you
are allowed on the beach with your car and you can apparently drive for kilometers on the sand. The sand is also very dark and very fine so the water
stays on top of the sand for quite a while causing a mirror effect for longer than usual. The photos proove that it really is a beautiful part of the world...
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