After visiting breathtaking Cape Reinga, I felt restless.  I drove from New Zealand’s most northwestern point down to Kumue in an afternoon, parked for the night on the side of the road, the sped off south early after the sun rose.  After popping over shortly to Waitkere Ranges, I drove out to Piha, my first west coast beach anywhere in the world!

At this point in my trip, I had not been on the beach for exactly two months.  A shame, I know.  My golden southern hemisphere summer tan was beginning to fade.  During the first week on the road, I felt myself in a constant state of restlessness.  I was rushing through everything, scared that I wouldn’t be able to see it all.  I wanted to see absolutely everything there was to see, to drive on every single road, to take it all in, to miss nothing.  When I reached Piha, I finally calmed down.  Hat on, book in hand, I walked along the sand and felt myself relax for the first time since I left Waiheke Island.  I let myself breathe.

Piha has amazing rock and cliff structures that I had never seen anything like before.  Before sunset I climbed up Lion Rock for a panoramic view of the little paradise nestled into the western hills of the Auckland region.  I went for a relaxing run along the beach and through the cute neighborhood streets.  My very first west coast sunset, and I mean any west coast anywhere in the entire world, was in Piha.  I will never forget that view.