Cheltham Beach and the West Coast Muirwai Surfing Beach

There simply are now words for what we saw this weekend. Melissa and I are currently speaking with publishers about us writing a new New Zealand Travellers dictionary with newly invented words that are much needed to describe the experience. Stay tuned….

Well, the publisher said no, he said that our words were still not good enough. I don’t blame him.

Okay, Saturday morning we slept in for the first time in more than 2 weeks. It was okay b/c the weather was cloudy (just like the last few days…). So we decided to take the Ferry over to Devonport take our chances and hope that the weather get brighter. No luck. We climbed to the top of Mount Victoria (an old war bunker) that had fantastic views of Auckland Harbour and the Huraki Gulf (b/w Devonport and the Volcanoes like Rangitoto-the one that is in all of our pictures). We got to the top of the mountain and boom, pouring like cats and dogs-no umbrella. I was so worried about the camera getting wet. We scurried to the bottom and got the heck out of there.

Sunday we awoke to a glorious day. It woke up at about 7 am and just layed in bed for 2 hours looking out my window at the sun shining through my window on to me. I thought that I’d better go and get things moving b/c who knows how long the sun would stay out! So we got up and were all ready to head out, took one more look out the window and of course, clouds, no blue sky –JUST LIKE THAT! New Zealand tends to sneak up on you like that. :o(. So off came my swimsuit-Melissa kept the faith and brought hers). As soon as we got off the Ferry, it was gorgeous! Mais bien sur! Me in my jeans….So we walked around the Sunday morning market and sampled all kinds of national dessert sauces and honey (in many flavors including Pohutukawa Honey). Pohutukawa is New Zealand’s national Christmas tree. Imagine that Christmas tree honey. I thought it was gross, but I’m not a honey fan. Any honey fans out there would love it I am sure-let me know if you are cause it was way better than normal honey from home. I pondered buying a big bottle of the chocolate dessert sauce but didn’t like the images of opening my suitcase and having chocolate sauce topping on all my clothes and souvies!

So then we started our trekking to find the most famous beach in Devonport-Cheltham Beach. It was a good stroll to get there in the blazing heat, but well worth it. The beach is actually on Huraki Gulf. Melissa lent me her skirt so I could catch some rays. She was getting red throughout the day but told me that I didn’t look red at all. So we layed out for hours. She went in the water b/c she had her swimsuit and I just cried watching her, I was in heat pain. The sun is so hot here, but you know…everyone dies of cancer…so at least we will get it from some place cool! :op. So we roasted, people watched and even had a paraglider come down from the cliffs above us and land on the beach near us. You can’t close your eyes for a second around here. Then we walked around the North Head (also an old war bunker) and found all kinds of caves and tunnels-we went in alot, but some too dark for us to go into without flashlights (we are going back with some). The coastline was gorgeous here too and Eddie, you would have loved this place, there were all kinds of people fishing, and again-they were ALL COUPLES. Couples rule this country. There was one elderly couple that I watched fishing while Melissa was swimming. They were right on the Cliffside and at first the amn was being kind and was teaching his wife how to hold the rod, then he got mad that she just couldn’t catch and then he stormed off and told her that she was on her own. I was mad at him by then, I am sure that that elderly lady really wanted to be there…on the first sunny day on the last week or so…sure. Then, he yelled to her that she should have listened to him b/c he just caught a big one. Yes he did, a big piece of seaweed. He was embarrassed. I took pictures of all of these events. I am sure you will enjoy them. So we explored some more caves and tunnels and headed home after supper. When I walked in home and looked in the mirror I was red as I have ever been. I took a freezing cold shower, forecasting that I would not be able to handle a shower in the morning once the burn set in. Then we went down to the retro lounge and watched Whale Rider, a movie about the Maori people and their leadership. It was incredible, but I understand it in a different way than I would have at home b/c of the cultural exposure here. It was filmed here as well. I woke up many times throughout the night seriously pondering whether to go to the hospital for the sunburn on my legs. I was in excruciating pain and thought that I would be in bad shape tomorrow if I didn’t. I fell back asleep and was I right, this morning I could barely walk. Dorsiflexion and plantar flexion are impossible. And today of all days…the group outing was going to the beach. But boy am I glad I went. We drove to Muriwai Beach (just outside of where I work in Kumeu) and this was by FAR the most amazing thing that I have seen yet in New Zealand. Check it out: http://www.muriwai.com/

This is the major surf beach of the North Island. Look at the pictures! It’s so much more spectacular in person. I walked slow b/c of the burn and got some gunk out of the 1st aid kit here at work, but I’m pretty much oblivious to any pain or worries when looking at the sights that are presented by this country. You just can’t imagine what it is like b/c you have never seen such places, so how can you imagine it. The only way to is to live it, and I am grateful that I have been given the chance.

To sum it up, and I try and think of better ways to say it every few minutes, it’s like when you are in New Zealand, New Zealand is all that exists. There is nothing outside of this country. You never hear about the rest of the world and world events, in any capacity. New Zealand is so self-sufficient and all you could ever need, you can find here. Your mind is clear of everything you have ever worried about and you never ever want to leave. Well, you don’t even worry about leaving because again…there is nowhere out there to go but here!

Note: As it takes 2-3 weeks for us to get mail here, I think that it would be wise to not send anything this was as of today as I will only be here for another 3 weeks before off traveling.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! MOM JUST CALLED ME AT WORK AND TOLD ME THAT THE PATRIOTS WON! OF COURSE I CANT WATCH THE GAEM B/C IT IS THE MORNING HERE AND AT WORK WHEN THEY ARE ON, BUT HOLY HANNA! I TUNED IN ON NFL.COM AT LUNCH! AND THEY WERE LOSING 21-13. THEN I HAD TO GO TO THE BEACH WITH THE CLIENTS...I CANT BELIEVE IT, OF ALL THE GAMES TO MISS. I WONDER IF THEY SHOW THINGS LATER HERE...I AM SAD, BUT HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS MOM!