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1 Year of New Zealand Selfies: September & October
The adventure continues! In September and October, I explored the middle of the North Island, and then took the plunge and went to the South Island!
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Photos from the Kaimai Range
I visited the Kaimai Range several times while I was staying in Whiritoa, so they were disjointed visits. Hour long drives out and back through small towns and straight roads (shocking, but the Waikato region nearby actually has straight roads!). However, since I visited about three times in the span of three weeks, there is no backbone to the whole area and no experience here that was particularly noteworthy, other than loving all the waterfalls. It's simply a pretty and deserving-of-visitors region, so I'm adding my favorite photos and maybe a few comments--mostly for me. Because I'll look back at this blog in three, five, and ten years, and want…
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Waitomo, NZ: Finding Little Lights in the Dark
Last Monday, I drove away from Whiritoa, and I felt set adrift. Uncertain. Lost, even. Suddenly I'm wondering why I have chosen to be half a world away from all the people who know and love me. Experiencing the glow worm region of New Zealand reminded me that I am an explorer. It doesn't make it easier being away from home, but denying the part of me that desires exploration and adventure is also not something I want to do. So I'm taking the hardships with the triumphs, day-by-day, the lights with the dark.
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A Hidden Paradise in Whiritoa, New Zealand
On Google Maps, Whiritoa looks like a beach town at the very bottom of the Coromandel Peninsula on the east coast. As I drove in through 16 kilometers of windy S-curves and 180-degree switchbacks, and then entered the town, I realized that I had been wrong. This was no town. Rather, it was a collection of a few hundred houses clustered around the beach. A single cafe provided snacks and a few staples (bread, butter, milk), but anything beyond would require the twenty minute trek into town. I wondered where the hell I had just based myself for the next month. The answer:
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The Lone Mussel: My Moana Moment
I'm wandering along the beach in Whiritoa. There's no particular hurry and I feel the sand shift beneath my feet. The soft sound of the waves, sussurating in a steady rhythm, creeping up the sand and retreating with gentle movement...and leaving something behind... Disney-princess style.