On Sunday 1 May 2016, I picked up a group of 11 passengers (from South Korea) at their accommodation in the central city and went to Piha and Karekare. It was a cloudy day but there was very little wind and the day was warm for this time of the year, about 23 degrees.
Piha and Karekare – $65 per person, full day tour.
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Destination: Piha and Karekare
After a 45 minute drive, we stopped at the Piha Lookout for some photos and then went down the hill to the beach carpark. From the carpark, we walked to the southern area, which can only be explored when the tide is mostly out. We stopped at The Keyhole for a while and some of the group got active, posing for photos while jumping. The Keyhole is a mostly vertical hole cut through the rock.
Then we headed 100 metres further south and checked out the area known as The Gap, which as the name suggests is a gap in the sea cliffs where the waves come crashing in. It is quite spectacular when there are big waves and this was one of those days.
We went back to the van and drove the short (10 minute) distance to Karekare Beach. From the carpark, we walked about 15 minutes to Karekare Falls where we had a picnic.
Next, we walked back to the carpark and about 15 minutes later, we were at a lookout where there is a bench seat overlooking the northern end of Karekare Beach. We walked down the narrow track to the beach and explored the beach for a while, but then it started to rain, lightly at first and then more heavily.
We went back to Piha Beach but the rain had set in so we had some delicious hot chips at Adey’s Place, which is the takeaways next to the surf lifesaving club, and decided to finish our trip the next day if the weather was good …. and it was.
Monday May 2 was a beautiful day, so late afternoon we went back to Piha, taking up our tour where we had finished the previous day.
We walked up the steep track to Tasman Lookout (less than 10 minutes walking), which is a great spot for photos. A couple of us walked further along the track to the point overlooking The Keyhole and The Gap. This place also gives wonderful views back to Lion Rock and Piha Beach.
Finally we watched the sunset from Tasman Lookout and then drove back and I returned the group to their accommodation in the city.
