West Coast Beaches - June 3, 2008
When Amy came down to visit me we made it a point to get out to, at the very least, Auckland's West Coast beaches. Te Henga (Bethell's) Beach in particular, where they did all the beach filming for Xena: Warrior Princess. As it turned out, we rented a car and wound up driving all over the Waitakere Ranges, visiting several beaches and scenic points. It was a fantastic day, the weather amazingly cooperated (sunny with just a few puffy clouds until right after sunset when we were headed home), and we had a wonderful time.
The beaches we actually got out and walked on were Piha, Muriwai, and Te Henga. We drove down to Karekare but the bridge was closed and we didn't have our hiking boots to wade the stream down to the beach. Bummer. I would have liked to have see Karekare Falls as well as the beach proper. We also made the drive back to the parking lot for Anawhata, but I'd injured myself on a hike the previous weekend and wasn't capable of hiking an hour round trip down to the beach. Instead we stopped to admire the view and eat lunch, then headed on up to Muriwai. The goal was to be on Te Henga at sunset, so we hit everything else first, then strolled awhile as the sun went down. Perfection!
The beaches we actually got out and walked on were Piha, Muriwai, and Te Henga. We drove down to Karekare but the bridge was closed and we didn't have our hiking boots to wade the stream down to the beach. Bummer. I would have liked to have see Karekare Falls as well as the beach proper. We also made the drive back to the parking lot for Anawhata, but I'd injured myself on a hike the previous weekend and wasn't capable of hiking an hour round trip down to the beach. Instead we stopped to admire the view and eat lunch, then headed on up to Muriwai. The goal was to be on Te Henga at sunset, so we hit everything else first, then strolled awhile as the sun went down. Perfection!