Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A perfect day at Piha!

This past weekend, the group went to Piha Beach. It's part of the Waitakere Ranges National Park. It's a West Coast beach that's part of the Tasman Sea, so its waves are bigger than the East Coast ones. Apparently a lot of people (mostly tourists) get into trouble with the strong currents and undertows that you find at this beach. There's even a show about all the rescues done called Piha Rescue. We explored around Honeymoon Cove, just on the other side of the main beach. The tide was coming in so fast! It was really cool to see the waves come crashing onto the rock walls. Karekare Beach is just up the road, so we took a short visit over there after Piha. We then took a short hike up to Angel Falls. This country never ceases to amaze me with its raw, natural, breathtaking beauty! I climbed up into the falls a little bit. I found a nice part of the wall to sit on; it was like a little chair! It felt so nice and soft to sit back on the moss and feel the water falling down over me. How often do you get to do something like that?! Unreal!me, Hannah, and Diana
Love the tiki men
View of Piha Beach from Lions Rock
Ha ha this wave came crashing onto us just as we were getting our picture taken
At the top of the world... okay so just at the top of the cliffs, but it felt pretty cool!
Classic Little Mermaid pose


So much love!

We found dead jellyfish all over the beach!
I'd never seen one before. They were so cool to hold!

I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine.

Angel Falls at Karekare
Such an amazing feeling
Jess and Hannah joined me on the waterfall!

After cleaning up, we all headed over to Nicole and Neeley's house. Nicole's host mom wanted to throw her a surprise birthday party...even though she'd had her bday when we were in Queenstown. :) So we all hid in the backyard to surprise her.
Shh! Don't tell!
Neeley brought Nicole out back and we all jumped out to surprise her.
Boy, was she surprised!
We also celebrated the other February birthdays: Nancy and Anna. These three are so wonderful. They contribute so much to the laughter and fun times in our group. Love you, girls!

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