First, we got to fly in one of Air New Zealand's new "All Blacks" planes. They're painted black in honour of NZ hosting the Rugby World Cup this year. Even the interior is black. Very cool.
On our way the Coromandel Peninsula, we drove from Auckland to Hahei with gorgeous weather on Saturday.
We'd heard about the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan the night before we left. So very sad.
NZ had a tsunami warning in effect so we kept a close eye on the beach and an ear to the news on the radio. Thankfully NZ sustained no damage (that I'd heard of). So we ended up waiting until the warning had expired to take a walk on the coast.
Then today an early morning walk down to Cathedral Cove, one of the country's most popular and beautiful destinations. We started out early to beat the crowd and glad we did because we had a good 30 minutes with the beach completely to ourselves!
We walked through the arch (although signs warn against it due to rock falls) to the beach on the other side. Simply breath-taking.
Notice the clouds forming -- it started pouring down on us right as we began our 30-minute return walk and then seemed to rain most of the day. Even though hiking in the rain always makes me feel closer to nature, I'm always looking forward to coffee and a hot shower afterward.We cruised around and stopped wherever we wanted, which was such a relaxing experience. Then to top it all off, Jake got an awesome emergency row seat with unprecedented legroom on the flight home.
We have three weeks left in New Zealand, and we're soaking up as much as we can before we go. Like this completely gorgeous, completely empty beach we enjoyed this morning... we won't find that in Kansas!
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1 comment:
Oh wow, what awesome pictures and what a fun time you guys must have had! The All Blacks plane ride sounds neat, and how often, by the way, do people get exclusive beach time? I know you two are enjoying every minute :)
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