Piha 2

PIHA 2…I don’t think all of my posts will contain this many details. I feel like I’m adding a lot and I know that I’m leaving a lot of details out. I am killing time on the plane. I just think I will want to remember Piha. It welcomed me to NZ and into my new Chapter.

After watching the surfers I couldn’t wait to see what the town was all about…I quickly realized that this wasn’t a town…it was hardly even a village. I think I saw every public building in about 10 minutes. There was big building right behind the beach called the Piha Surf Life Saving Club. Next to it there were two food trucks tucked away. There was one ice cream cart/booth/tent. I walked into the club and went upstairs..it looked like a surf club. There were couches and scoreboards and dudes chillin out. There were a couple tourists..there were a few pets off leash. People were eating and hanging out. A couple life guards looking out on top. I stopped here and chilled for a second. The rain finally let up and I walked around “town” for a little while got a good lay of the land. I started to get pretty exhausted by about 5pm. I wasn’t ready to meet any locals or engage in conversation just yet either. I was pretty drained and my internal clock was little out of whack so I made it back up the steep and winding rainforest staircase back to my room. I took a nap then headed back down the staircase again to the local store where I grabbed some homemade buttered chicken to heat in the microwave. Buttered chicken was served on the plane as well.. It’s like curry sauce red and taste…next to white rice. I love it. I went back to the club to grab a chicken sandwich. A buffalo chicken sandwich(how original of me). The buffalo sauce was different…it had spice but tasted more like bbq sauce. But the chicken was huge and really really juicy. I made it back up the stairs again…checked in with people but most of you were already asleep!

I was up the next morning at about 4:30 am and the sun wasn’t coming up til 7. I was ready to go for that sunrise boy I tell you what. I packed my bag and started down the staircase around 6:45. The sun didn’t show but man was that one of the more peaceful and beautiful mornings I have experienced. There was one other guy out there on the dune smoking a joint taking in the same sights. I walked all the way to the water with my shoes on as the sand was pretty hard near the water. Explored all around the big lion rock..Over here I did run into a lady carrying her sandals and we chatted for a bit. She was a local resident getting her typical morning zen..how lucky to be able to wake up and do that every morning in that setting…We walked along together for a sec talking about the area and she asked about what Brought me hear and briefly enlightened her. She was all about as she said she was a traveler herself. We reached a point where the water was deep enough that I couldn’t cross without my socks getting soaked and I was about to turn around…she said “part of your journey is having your feet on the ground” So I took my boots off and tied them to my bag and I became one with Piha beach. Best morning ever. Snapped some incredible pictures and explored the beach for an hour or so.

Grabbed coffee back at the store where I bought the buttered chicken. I bought their version of the New York Times and read through it front to back. I don’t care to keep up with too many current events, but I was curious to see what was going on over here and what they were all about. First thing I noticed…A section with Trump’s face. The other section…why some kiwis are hesitant to get the vaccine. Ugh…can I not escaped all of this bullshit already was what I was thinking. I kept reading and was picking up on some lingo and what was important to them The environment. Sustainability is all over the place in this newspaper. There weren’t many articles about business or money making tactics or investments. All of the ads were related to travel. They did have a ton on rugby, soccer, and American Sports. Everyone I’ve talked to seems to know maybe more about American politics than I do. I will wait til the end of my trip before I generalize an entire country and their population. But that is the consensus right now.

After coffee…I went straight back to the beach and headed to the left this time. I saw a sign in the shop that said there were blue penguins on this side of the beach…I was not expecting that so I went on a hunt to see one. Not kill one. Jeez. The beach wrapped around this giant rock and it opened up into this cove. You can see it in the videos I posted of Piha. There was a keyhole with water gushing through it..I had heard about this keyhole and how people have drowned and gone missing by trying to swim through it. Obviously I never considered it but just wanted to state that because the force of these waves and current around the rocks were strong. I made it to the cove and was the only one in sight. I was looking for just this..there were huge waves crashing in this cove. You can also see these in the video I posted. This was my favorite part of Piha, by far. Pictures and videos do none of it justice.

I had more buttered chicken for lunch in my room. I had a long morning. No nap but big time chillin. I noticed some red marks on my arms. They weren’t raised up and they didn’t itch. I asked around. I did notice mosquitoes in my room the night before as there was a cracked window in the shower. It did turn out to be mosquito bites(the mozzy’s got me).

I headed back out in the after noon to chase a waterfall. My legs were feeling at by this point. I went from not working out in Atlanta to some serious stepping, hiking, walking…I usually just push through the pain..or take some Advil. This waterfall hike had the boot cleaner station that I was talking about earlier. This is also where I found the old rugby ball hiding in the woods. I carried the ball with me for the 1.5hour hike. The waterfall was pretty…tall…I was about the only hiker out there…this was a rainforest…I never really experienced being inside of one before.

I headed towards the only restaurant that was open that day..called RSA. A restaurant dedicated to NZ veterans. I showed up 10 min before they opened and I waited outside with two other guys. They had been doing some hard work that day and needed a beer. They laughed at me carrying that rugby ball and we talked about NZ vs. USA things. Peter and Willie. They offered me a beer and I accepted. They let me in on all the ins and outs of NZ. They said Americans had always treated them nicely when they visited the states. Except when Peter stole some frat boys girl while in Vegas(I think) in 1985. Ha. We talked about healthcare and how it was free for them over there…they wanted to know about our gun situation as well. So far people ask about our gun situation more than anything else. I enjoyed chatting with them for awhile. We talked about WWII. My takeaway was that if Pearl Harbor didn’t happen and the US didn’t do what they did after that then NZ would be a completely different place today. So they were thankful. I have research to do on all of this. Willie guides snowboarding trips in Japan. Peters house was destroyed in cyclone this time last year and is figuring out what is next…but he did show me a picture of him at the top of the needle in Auckland as he was assigned to dissemble the rigging or take down the crane. Pretty high up..pretty cool.

They said Eddie Vedder loves Piha..and well I like Eddie Vedder. Mostly jumping into the crowd, Eddie Vedder.

I came back to the restaurant that night to get a burger..it’s the only place open. I got an awesome sunset.

At 7:00 they sing and ode to the veterans and have a minute and moment of silence. Turn off all the lights and music. Pretty neat.

I got a ride luckily back to the house this time..It was raining and dark. 4 16 year old kids took me home. They wanted to know all about the rappers in Atlanta and the US. They wanted to know my favorite fast food. They had heard about Zaxbys and had wanted to try it. The boys had these little rat tail things like the lost boy from the movie “hook”. I forget what they call them but I’ve seen them a lot since I’ve been here. Some really cool kids. One couldn’t believe I was just doing this by myself. He said he wanted to go to “cali” by himself. We listened to Kanye on the way home and probably topped out at 75 mph on this windy road. I made it tho. My last Piha Post is next. I just landed in Queenstown. I’ll be typing out the 3rd Piha post before bed tonight. This will probably be the trend.. I will recap my past few days whenever I get the down time. I take a lot of mental notes and then I take physical notes if someone teaches me a slang word or has a great quote….this is so fun. Thanks for reading

Surf Club View

Buttered Chicken

Willie on left..Peter on Right

My place.