March 10, 2026
It was time to say goodbye to Rotorua and all New Zealand thermal activity. We had our last breakfast and said goodbye to Shami and Dave at the Geyser Lookout BnB. I realized I had not yet taken photos of our view from there, so I took a few pictures before we left. It was a nice sunny morning.
It was a 3-hour and 25-minute drive to our next destination in Piha. We wanted to get an early start since we would have to drive through the Auckland vicinity to get there, and we did not want to have to deal with rush hour traffic.
So we made only a few stops along the way. The first stop was at the New World supermarket in Rotorua where we bought more Whittaker's Chocolate to stock up on some flavors that Pak'nSave did not have. We also filled up on gas using the small discount that New World gave us on the grocery receipt.
We made brief rest stops near the city of Hamilton and the town of Huntly, and then afterwards it was a nonstop drive all the way to Piha. The last 1.5 hours was city driving in Auckland, and after we left the motorway it was slow going with heavy traffic. The traffic was no longer an issue once we reached Piha Road, but the road was very steep and windy.
Our accommodation for the next two nights was at a cottage perched high on a hill just south of the Piha beaches, and it had a killer view.
We unpacked and then used the grill for a nice dinner on the deck.
That evening, a storm system started to move in across the north going from west to east, and we were right on the edge of it. The temperature was supposed to drop overnight, and we were concerned that we would not be warm enough since we could not find the space heater that was advertised. I messaged the host, and he said he could bring a heater, but it would not be until the next day. In the meantime we used extra blankets from the closet. It turned out to be okay.