We're coming up on the year anniversary of our move to Auckland. Shane actually reached his year over the weekend, and the kids and I have about three weeks to go.
If you know me, you know I love celebrating events both big and small. I even have a song I sing on trash night, ha. So I've been thinking about ways to mark the day and thank our Kiwi friends for being so good to us over the last year. I'm sure I'll be sharing photos of that and some reflections on our year abroad here.
But in the meanwhile, I thought I'd tell you about some of the beautiful places we've ventured to in Auckland recently. Though we spend a bit more time at home now, usually with one or two extra kids in the house for playdates and sleepovers, we still go out most weekends to explore. And Moses and I get some extra time on the trail during the week. :)
Amazingly, even after a year of getting out and about in Auckland, we still have so many places left to see! This region is just PACKED with natural beauty, and we have not gotten one bit tired of it. So without further ado, here are a few of the beautiful places we've been to recently. Enjoy!
Mangere Mountain is one of Auckland's largest and best-preserved volcanic cones. The mountain's made up of two large craters, one of which has a lava dome in the center. The whole thing's incredibly cool and beautifully green and one hell of a hike to the top (300+ feet.) The day we ventured up Mangere was extremely windy, the kind of wind that stalls a bird mid-flight. But we had so much fun trekking up and down the mountain with the wind flapping wildly around us.
Oakley Creek Falls, a 20-foot high natural waterfall, is, amazingly, just a short walk from a busy, four-lane road in the middle of Auckland. The waterfall is not nearly as impressive as some we've hiked to here, but it's IN THE CITY! Like, the MIDDLE OF THE CITY. This, for some reason, really blows my mind :) The day we walked here, we were trying out Pokemon Go to see if chasing those little AR critters would get the kids more excited about doing a hike. Our plan kind of worked. The kids hiked with little complaint, but the outing was just as frustrating for us adults as we had to stop and catch a Pokemon every two feet. :) Still, we made it to the falls and happened upon a photo shoot with a lovely Pacific princess.
Getting to Whatipu is an adventure in itself. This is one of the more remote West Coast beaches in Auckland, so it's in the same area and vein as Piha or KareKare, places you probably see a lot in our Instagram feed. (And if you don't follow that account, you might want to check it out. I post beautiful pictures of our New Zealand adventures pretty much every day.) Anyway, back to Whatipu. The ride to the beach takes you over a ford -- a legit water-covered bridge -- and then up and down this windy, white-knuckle gravel road for about 20 minutes. But then you arrive in a little piece of paradise. It's incredible. We swam at the beach here during the summer and went back recently to hike to the famous Whatipu Caves. The hike was "muddy as" the day we went. We actually had to find tree branches to build little bridges across some of the bigger puddles. But the caves were worth it. Big and spooky and super cool. They're famous, by the way, because Auckland teenagers used to throw wild dance parties in them. How cool is that??
Duder Regional Park is a former family farm that's been gifted to the Auckland Council and opened to the public. It's a working farm, with cows and sheep grazing on some of the greenest hills I've seen in New Zealand. Visitors can get up close to these lucky creatures via walking paths that wend all through the property. There's a beach area, picturesque old barns, views for days of the Hauraki Gulf. It's just lovely. And the 3-mile hike we did here was the first our kids did without complaining or asking for a piggyback ride. In fact, they walked ahead of us the whole way and not because we were letting them "win." Shane and I couldn't keep up!! Turns out our little hikers are pretty good at it, when they feel like it :)
Alright, well that's a quick look at some of our recent adventures. Auckland's sweet as, isn't it??
