The day after Christmas we took another trip out to Piha Beach. I definitely wanted Shane to experience the beauty of this place. Katie, Will, Rachel, Cooper, Shane and I all piled into Mark's lovely Toyota Corona and started on our way. The Corona was already in not-so-good shape to begin with, but we think the weight of us Americans really began to take it's toll. On our way up to Piha, the Corona was giving off this horrible "smokey-like" smell. Definitely not a good sign. We did make it up the mountain to Piha and when we were parking I realized (I was driving on the way up) that we were basically on empty...yeah, I know, def. should have noticed that BEFORE we were forever away from any gas stations. We decided that there was nothing we could do at the moment about the gas or the smell....so we were just going to enjoy a few hours at Piha and then PRAY really hard that we would make it back home :)
Here are some pics from our hike...Obviously the tide was way more in than the day that Georgie brought me and Katie to Piha. There were several places that we stood on sand and took pics that day that were totally under water when we went back...
The boys....what kind of face is Cooper making?!?
The girlies....
Cooper and Shane "braving" the big waves :)
That's pretty...
Remember the pic from before when Katie and I were standing right in front of that hole on dry sand....not so much today :)
Random couple on the beach....he played and sang for hours...
Shane and Cooper having some fish & chips for lunch...with tomato sauce, of course :)
We left the beach we were at and were planning on searching for this waterfall that was supposed to be pretty cool and only a mile down the mountain from where we were. The poor Corona was def. struggling and we ended up having to pull off just down this dirt road to take a look at the car (like any of us knows ANYTHING about cars...but oh well)....while we were on this dirt road we noticed a sign for another trail to hike. We thought it might be a good idea to let the Corona rest a bit more so we decided to check the trail out. OH MY GOODNESS...it ended up leading us to the most beautiful place I have ever seen!! The pics are gorgeous, but still don't do it justice. Oh, the almost dead Corona....
HELLOOOOOOOO!!!!! What is this place?!!? It totally felt like we were in Lord of the Rings....
It just kept getting more and more breath-taking....
Geeeeeeez....
Titanic, of course, plus the amazing mustache :)
leaving "heaven" and heading back to the Corona :( ha!
After our AMAZING hike we hopped back in the Corona and begged the Lord to get us back 1. without running our of gas and 2. without the car exploding into flames b/c it really smelled like it might just do that :) Well, thank you Lord, we did make it back to Auckland, which is also known as the "City of Sails" b/c of all the zillion of sailboats....
We got back just in time for Georgie and Mark's rehearsal(no, none of us took showers :). Their wedding rehearsals are very different from ours over here. They are SUPER casual and laid-back (I know, surprise) and they last like 10 minutes and then there are no rehearsal dinners or anything...they just usually go out to a pub and have a drink together and then that's that. The rehearsal was so fast that I didn't have time for any pics. We all went to this pub afterwards...
The bride and Katie....cuteness...and don't be fooled...it was like 7:30 or 8pm at this time and it looks like it was noon, right?! It didn't get dark there till super late.
Shane trying to keep his neck from getting more fried than it was from our day at Piha....
Before we left the pub, Shane asked Georgie to sit down with him for a few minutes to chat. He just wanted to tell her our proud he was of her and give her a little "father-daughter" talk before the wedding. It was precious. We love this little Kiwi so much!
That night Georgie and all the bridesmaids stayed at the Hyatt in downtown Auckland. It was WAY fun :)
Our view from the the balcony of our rooms....
Ruth and Emma getting their nails ready for the wedding....
The bride-to-be...sexy little devil :)
Katie elevating/icing the fat foot...haha :)
We ate way too much....especially since ALL of us were terrified that our dresses were not going to zip up....apparently China makes things just at tad bit smaller that we do :)....guess we shall see on the wedding day...whoop whoop!!!
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