Home for the next 3 weeks…

This will be our home for the next three weeks. It’s a little smaller than what we are used to but it has all the necessities that we, (Terri), require.

We picked-up the RV (Britzy) near the airport. I was a little surprised that they didn’t push the insurance on us, after all, we are Americans, driving on the wrong side of the road, with the steering wheel in the wrong place, in a country where the roads are notoriously narrow. Thankfully, I have Terri giving me second hand delayed directions from Siri, when she’s not cringing and stepping on her imaginary brake. Hmmm, maybe I should have inquired….. wait! There’s round-a-bouts too?

Our first stop was Piha Beach on New Zealand’s east coast. It’s a popular surf spot that is also close to a waterfall hike that interested us.

I had heard stories of how crazy narrow and curvy the roads are in NZ. The road to Piha was a shining example of those. There were also deep drainage ditches immediately on each edge of the road. We passed two vehicles that had recently ran off the road with just a portion showing through the jungle.

We made it to Piha Beach, somewhat stressed but excited to be exploring again. The beach was a bit blustery and cold so we didn’t last long watching the surfers. I wanted to get a quick swim in the waves but the thought of the cold wind and a hike to go tanked the idea.

The hike to Kitekite falls was easy, just what we needed!

I was dreading the next portion of our drive up to Waipu, our first over-night stopping point, fearing 3 more hours of white-knuckle driving while concentrating on my new mantra: Stay left, stay left.

The roads actually opened-up some, still narrow by US standards but better than the road to Piha. We arrived without incident, easily got a good campsite and walked on the very long Beach-at Waipu.