Beach and Bridal Veil Falls

Oh, how good it is to be back in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Though, it is a terribly long and rather uncomfortable journey to get here. Uncomfortable only in that 13 hours is a long time period to try to sleep sitting up.

Well, let's nevermind and move on to all of the rest of the journey. We were picked from our house at around 1:30pm. I always order a shared van to take us to the airport but this time there was a limousine at our door. Lucky for us, a family had just been dropped off around the corner from our place and Shuttle Express decided it didn't make any sense to send a van when the limo was already so close. So, we got to go to the airport in style!

We went through security with no problems and boarded our flight to Vancouver after some lunch and our customary magazine purchases. In Vancouver, we had 3 hours to kill so we browsed shops, had honey cruellers from Tim Horton doughnuts and ended up indulging in a quick snack and drink before boarding the plane to Auckland.

The flight was uneventful, albeit rather tight even though we didn't have anyone sitting next to us in the row of three seats. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of sleep to be had, though I managed to grab more than my boyfriend did, which was pretty much nothing. We arrived a half hour early in Auckland but certainly filled the extra time going through customs.

After getting our New Zealand cell phone from Vodafone and picking up our red rental camry from Apex Car Rentals, we were on the road south to Raglan. I picked another small, beachside town to try to unwind in a sunny, low-key location after the long marathon. Unfortunately, when I booked our trip, I didn't take the Easter holidays into account. The driver that took us from the airport to the rental car location was extremely friendly and explained to us how there basically wouldn't be anything open today since it was Good Friday. So, this weekend would be interesting. It's also interesting that New Zealand is so adamant about their Easter holiday when only 20% of the population is Christian.

We arrived in Raglan a little after 9am, which was earlier than I had expected us to be there. The drive was beautiful. There was bright sunshine with barely any clouds, which really enhanced the vibrancy of the green in the vegetation. Part of me sometimes thinks that green has to be fake, so I take my sunglasses off for a moment. Nope, it really is just that green. Though, it's a green that never comes through properly in photographs. We barely made any stops for pictures (something I hope to make up for tomorrow) as I was trying to be sensitive to my boyfriend's lack of sleep. Though, he did attempted to take many from the car but those just don't turn out as well as composed, still shots.

Raglan is small, one street surfer town nestled between two rivers before they flow into the Tasman Sea. After checking into our lodging very early and showers for the both of us (and a quick nap for the boyfriend) we went out to have some lunch at a place called the Shack. The town was pretty bustling for its size, but I believe that's because of Good Friday. Afterwards, we made our way down the oceanside beach. With all that river there, you can easily just go to the riverside beach but I really wanted to see black sands and waves of the Tasman Sea.

About 5km west of town we managed to find ourselves on the dark, sparkling sands of Ngarunui Beach. The beach wide and flat, which makes it perfect for lazy strolling. It starts out at the mouth of a river and then ends at the Tasman Sea, with lots of tide pools the further you got out towards the ocean waves. The sun was warm on our backs but when thick, fluffy clouds started rolling in, the shadows they cast created a bit of a chill combine with the playful sea breeze.

We spent some time exploring the beach, which involved trying avoid getting sucked into a strange but amusing quicksand. You'd walk along edge of a pool and all of a sudden sink down about a foot for the next for steps and then the sand would be solid again. Some of the pools were quite deep and the water wasn't the clear with the wind and clouds. We saw girls swimming in them up to their necks in water. It made for some vigilant water crossing when we were maneuvering about because the last thing I wanted was a wet camera!

After we had our fill of beach, we drove out to the Bridal Veil Falls trail, a quick drive east of Raglan. It was a short 10 min walk on a gravel path to the falls with plenty of photo opportunities at the top, middle and bottom. The steps down were, of course, fine but the climb back up (over 240+ steps) always makes one just how fit you really are for such activities. The falls themselves are a beautiful plunge waterfall that are 55 meters high with a nice little pool at its base, all surrounded by bright green plants that I imagine are just soaking up all that rainbow coloured spray. While we were at the bottom, someone had climbed back up to the top to drop a large rock into the pool. When the rock collided with the pool, it make a sound like a gunshot that seriously spooked a cute, black and white dog next to us. Poor thing. I don't know if that noise came from high velocity water smack or because there's a large boulder hidden underneath the waterfall.

Dinner was had at the Orca Bar and Restaurant, which had a lovely view of one of the rivers right at sunset. The food was better than at lunch and after we finished our respect drinks (cider for me and a red ale for the boyfriend), we made our way back to our lodgings.

This is the second time in a row that I've managed to pick a place with a room that's right next to the common room where everyone congregates, which makes it very loud. For the price, we had expected this to be more of bed and breakfast type of place and that's very much what the website advertises. However, it turns out it's owned by young guys and it's really just a hostel hangout. At least the bed is comfortable.

Speaking of beds, it's time for me to get some sleep. Boyfriend here, has been asleep for the last two hours while I get this all set up and I'm glad. Tomorrow, I hope, will be more easy going through our travels since we will have both had a full night's rest.