Land of the Long White Cloud
The start of my time in Aotearoa.
TRAVELEQUIPMENTNEW ZEALAND
Brian Cohoe
6/14/20262 min read
Sparked from a postcard I received from my uncle, New Zealand has been on the bucket list for a very long time. When I was younger, it was most certainly because of all the extreme sports and things to do. Now, it's because of all the natural beauty. There is so many wonderful spots to stop, take pictures of, and get lost (maybe a bit too literally) in.
One of the first places I went to was Anawhata Beach, a few hours outside of Auckland on the Scenic Drive. Which it most certainly was. One thing that I do not want to get used to is the stunning vistas that are around every corner and over every hill (there's lots of both). This beach in particular, which is a ways out of the way down a gravel road that claimed two of my tires, was well worth the drive.
For such a small island, it has a way of making you feel small. Everywhere along the coast in the bays and beaches, you are met with the vastness of the open sea, bookended with towering hills.
Next on the list, a little down the road near Piha, was Kitekite Falls. Home to fresh water eels. One of which decided to watch me the entire time I was setting up and taking this long exposure of the falls.
What caught me off guard was not the eel though, it was the sudden seemingly never ending set of stairs that absolutely walloped my confidence. It took me a while to regain my breath after I got to the top. But oh so worth it.