
I think it’s time for another update on Rhys and I’s New Zealand holiday. If you haven’t caught up with us yet, you can check out my first recap here.
After the above adventures, we settled down for a bit on Rhys’s uncle’s farm in Kaukapakapa. It’s a very peaceful place, and there are cows, sheep, chickens, and ducks- which of course, I love. Rhys even got to help out with the sheep. What a good little farmer!
We went to a massive car show in Kumeu, which was really cool. I was a fan of the Scooby Doo monster truck, and the make-your-own-sno-cone station…haha.
I also wouldn’t mind one of these…
We spent a great Saturday downtown in Auckland with Rhys’s best friend, Logan. We went to a place called Cassette Nine where you can order an alcoholic drink and it’s served to you in a teapot. Everyone gets a little tiny shot glass and you share the teapot. I loved this idea!!! Maybe we had a bit too much “tea”.
We wandered around the viaduct, stood on top of the train station, and did a bit of club-hopping.
Later that weekend, Rhys and I had a much-needed dose of veggie sushi. We usually eat sushi at least once a week, but it had been about a month without, and I was in dire need!! This feast did the trick. It came from Sushi Tomi at Westgate Mall.
We also managed to make some mean vegan milkshakes at the farm.
We watched a duck have 9 beautiful little ducklings that followed her around, and one by one we watched them disappear until none were left. How sad!!
We did a little trek to Mount Auckland, which is about a two hour round-trip. It was such a nice little hike through the bush.
We visited Piha, which was Rhys’s local beach that he always went to when he lived in New Zealand. We walked to a really nice waterfall (it was only about a 10 mnute walk) and we went for a dunk. Holy crap it was COLD!!!!
Piha beach has black sand and some crazy lookin’ waves! It was really windy the day that we went so I stayed out of the water- I can swim well, but I’m still not super confidant in the waves. We also noticed lots of jellyfish…yikes! I couldn’t believe the colour of them. Quite stunning, but we saw at least 3 people get stung by them that day. My mouth is full of sandwich in this picture…
We took a drive to Ngatea, and stopped at the Copper Kettle. This was a great café…their veggie burger was awesome! Plus, I was just super pleased to even see a veggie burger on the menu. Most bakeries and café’s we have been to don’t even offer a veggie sandwich. It really blows my mind to see places that don’t have one vegetarian option after coming from a place like Vancouver where it’s almost mandatory to have veggie options on a menu.
Since then, I’ve seen a few veggie burgers and lots seem to be in the form of a potato and veggie fritter. I imagine there is an egg in their for binding purposes so they aren’t vegan, but I don’t know for sure.
The reason we spent so much time on the farm was that we were searching for the perfect campervan to tour around the country in. After a couple of weeks, we scored! Check out our van, “Sparrow”. We think she is quite gangsta.
We stopped by the breath-taking Huka Falls in Lake Taupo when we picked her up. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the colour of this water. We visited this area again later in our trip but I will save that for later.
Peace out! xx