The Whirst Whokken Whest

At the beginning on February my Aunt Nelly and Uncle Mike came for a visit. This is my mom's brother and his wife. Their son came to New Zealand for a visit a few years ago, so he very much convinced them that they need to see this country, so why not go when you have a niece living there to show you around. We were planning to go to Whitianga and it took them forever to remember that the "Wh" was a "f" sound, so I gave them a hard time. It just works out perfectly that I can use the "wh" alliteration for the title of this blog!

They flew in on a Friday and after a short detour they ended up at our house. We went out for the day and toured Auckland which included lunch at Mission Bay, a walk up to MJ Savage Park for some stunning bay views. Then opting for a full day we drove to to Piha for the afternoon. It was low tide so we were able to walk to the little cove area and discover.

Me and Nelly dipping our feet at Piha 

What a shot!

Dinner in the Wynyard corner

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed for Whitianga after hitting up the French Market for some coffee! We took the long way through Coromandel which was beautiful.

First look at the East Coast!

We hit the beach once we checked in and the waves were really big! It was a king tide that weekend so everywhere we went we had huge waves. We enjoyed bumming around Whitianga for the evening and enjoyed a stunning sunset.

Stunning sunset in Whitianga 

Whitianga harbor

The next morning we got up at at em and went to Cathedral Cove. We'd not been there before and it was so stunning! Definitely a place to see when in New Zealand. It really is what it says it is, a little cove of beach and it is so cool! We opted for the walk which was enjoyable on the way there (mostly downhill), and sweated on the way back.

Through the "Cove"

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove beach

Along the walk to Cathedral Cove

Then on to hot water beach. We'd been there before in the winter so enjoyed the warm water, but this time it was too hot! We were watched al the crazies dig their hole while we body surfed and boogie boarded in the amazing cool water. It was some of the most fun I'd had in the water in a while. I felt like a kid.

Hot Water Beach

Then they were off for a whirlwind trip around both islands ending up up back in Auckland for the day before flying out back to cold New Jersey. My mom and aunt (the remaining Fokkens) are coming out in a few weeks so the Fokken Fest will continue!