Piha Beach and Kitekite Falls

One reason Auckland is an interesting city is because it is at a narrow point on the north island where it has ports on both the Pacific Ocean (on the east where we live) and on the Tasman Sea (on the west). To celebrate Kurt's birthday, we decided on a visit to Piha Beach. Piha is on the western side of the island; our first trip to the Tasman Sea side of the island! Once you leave the city, the road curves up and down switchbacks over a mountain range. Our first stop was a hike to Kitekite falls. The path is in good shape but does have lots of stairs and one place requires crossing the stream over rocks. You may have seen flags or emblems for the NZ sports teams with a white fern on a black background. The Silver Fern is green on top but white underneath. The falls are beautiful! And we had a great hike.

The path to Kitekite Falls

Towering fern trees

Top of a Silver Fern

Underside of the Silver Fern

Stream crossing

Kitekite Falls

On the trail

The magnificent Kauri trees were once logged almost to extinction. Now protected, they are threatened by a soil-borne pathogen. So all the hikes into and out of forests with Kauri have a shoe cleaning and sanitizing station at both the entrance and exit.

Kauri Tree that avoided logging

Shoe sanitizing station

Then onto Piha Beach on the Tasman Sea! The rock formation is the Lion's Head. It didn't rain but was windy and cold.

Lion's Head

Piha Beach

Our last stop was Murray's for lunch. Unfortunately, we can't recommend the food but the atmosphere was great!

Murray's

Goodbye to Piha!