Waitakere Ranges - May 3, 2009

Last weekend we had a break from the rain on Sunday and decided to go hiking in the Waitakere Ranges. It is a large park about 1 hr west of Auckland, and is home to rainforests, waterfalls, and a dramatic coastline. We decided to try a coastal track that starts just south of Piha Beach and ends at Karekare Beach. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was gorgeous.
The track followed cliffs by the ocean, skirting around small beach inlets, and wandered through the rainforest. It was very lush, filled with ferns (apparently 1/4 of all of New Zealand's flowering plants and 2/3 of all ferns can be found in the Waitakere Ranges) and singing birds. We're not quite sure what kind of bird is in the picture below but it was huge!
Karekare Beach is in the background below. They have horse races on the beach. Add it to our list of things to see!
We hiked down to the beach and had lunch before heading back. A really relaxing hike, great scenery, and so close to Auckland! We'll be heading back here on any nice days we have this fall!
This weekend we didn't manage to do much, as I was resting up for my half marathon this morning. They were calling for t-storms, wind, rain, etc, so I was very happy that we ended up with mostly sunny skies and just a few short showers! It was a really flat course with most of the running on trails along the harbor by Onehunga. Here is a picture of me heading for the finish!
Then I enjoyed a nice Gatorade that we had been saving since March. I was pretty happy with my race, except for one thing. They were giving out random spot prizes to finishers throughout the whole race. So about 400m from the finish, I pick out a girl ahead that I am going to pass. My legs did not want to move but I managed to sprint (if you could call it sprinting, haha) past her with plently of room to spare...and then SHE got the random spot prize of a 6 pack of beer!! Shoulda been mine! Anyway, we are heading out to try another mexican restaurant tonight - we refuse to give up hope that a good one is out there! There is a serious gap in the Auckland restaurant scene when it comes to mexican food - someone could make a killing! La Loma satellite location?