New Zealand - Day 2

Friday May 18, 2018

We woke up bright and early in typical jet-lag fashion, fixed ourselves breakfast, and were on the road again by about 8-8:30. Our first stop this morning was Nugget Point, known for a pretty lighthouse overlooking the ocean. The car park was easy to find and a quick 1-2 km jaunt took us to just that, a very pretty lighthouse overlooking the ocean.
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Again we nearly had the place to ourselves. Just saw a few other families and tourists while we were soaking in the view; one of whom was kind enough to snap some pictures for us.
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We were about to head out when a rainbow decided to pop out, so naturally we stayed and snapped a few more pics.
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We were about to leave again when it turned into a double rainbow!! Totes lucked out amiright?
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Next up on the Itinerary was Purakaunui Falls; the hour long drive took us inland and through the most beautiful and quaint farm country I think I've ever seen. It reminded us a lot of the English countryside.
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We just had to pull over a handful of times.
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Purakaunui Falls was a quick 5 minutes walk through what looked like the jungle but still felt a bit chilly. It reminded me a lot of Olympic National Park in Washington.
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The falls were pretty, but honestly probably the least impressive of all the waterfalls we saw on the trip. Still a good pit stop though.
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It was at this point we realized we were low on gas and the nearest station was about 30 minutes back the way we had come. Bummer. Luckily the countryside was so nice and roads practically deserted we didn't even mind the drive. It gave us an opportunity to grab a few items from the grocery store that we had forgotten as well. Once our errands were done it was 30 minutes back towards the falls for our final destination of the day and where we'd camp that night, Purakaunui Bay.
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This Bay was absolutely GORGEOUS; one of my favorite spots for sure (though I could probably say that about nearly every place we went haha). We arrived around 4 and took our time walking around the bay taking pictures of course.
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I was hoping to reach an outcropping of rock stretching into the sea, but the closer we got to it, the marshier the ground became until we were forced to turn back. Not a bad view of our campground though.
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We spent the evening using the van's gas stove (first and last time) to cook our chili dinner and watching some downloaded shows (Lord of the Rings of course!) on our iPads while we listened to the waves crash against the shore.
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It was a lovely evening indeed.

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