Fresh Air

I'm a bit behind on posting as it’s been a busy couple of weeks with work. Not a whole lot new to report, but I am excited to share some photos from the last two weekends. We were getting a bit stir crazy due to rainy weather and too many days in the city, so we headed to the west of Auckland for some fresh air and great scenery. Last weekend we enjoyed the break in the rain and saw sunshine for the first time in weeks!

This is the start of the hike

Our 9km hike took us through lush forests that are part of the national park called Waitakere Ranges. This beautiful area is known for its black sand beaches and rain forest with magnificent kauri trees. We heard a lot about the kauri tree when we first moved here from the guide books (many of the tourist shops sell kauri wood souvenirs). However, until I saw them in person, I didn't understand what all the fuss was about; below are a few pics:

The photos don't capture how truly giant these trees are; they look like something out of your imagination.

We also saw lots of the silver ferns that New Zealand is famous for. The silver fern is New Zealand’s national symbol and is emblazed on nearly everything you can think of (the All Blacks jersey and their Olympic uniforms just to name a few).

Today, we went west again and this time went for a hike at Bethells Beach. Despite steady rain, we had a great time. The over cast day made for some beautiful colors at the beach:

Xena and Hercules television series were filmed in this area.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well!