piha beach

a cave along the shore

this is the black sand piha beach

we also hiked out to whites beach which still had black sand?

we stayed until sunset

On sunday we decided that since it wasn't too cold we should get in a trip to the beach.  Katelyn's boyfriend has a car and they both love to surf so we decided to visit Piha.  Piha is only about 20 minutes from where we live in the center of the city.  Its so great how you can be in the middle of a bustling city one moment and then in a beautiful natural setting the next!  The beach is a black sand beach and it even has some spots with this dark navy colored sand they call iron sand.  Its really beautiful and it has really distinct rock formations.  

So while Katelyn and Reed surfed and played around in the shallows looking for pipi (kinda like mussels) for dinner.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any (they must not be around that area or they are out of season), but I had fun anyway.  Its pretty cool to be able to go to the beach in the winter time even if the water is a tad chilly.