March 11, 2026
It was our last full day in New Zealand, and it started out cold and rainy. The weather system that was developing the previous night had moved into the area. The nice view from the deck of our cottage had disappeared.
That was disappointing because I was really looking forward to exploring Piha in nice weather. Two times before this trip we had planned to go to Piha, and in both cases the trip got thwarted: in 2019 due to some logistics in our travel plans, and in 2023 due to the entire area being closed from cyclone damage.
However, on that morning something else happened that kept me preoccupied. Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii started its high fountaining for episode 43. The night before, I had turned on the big screen TV to view the webcam due to reports that an eruption was close. When Heinrich got up that morning, he saw the North Vent was in heavy overflow, and less than an hour later I was receiving messages that the episode had started. Two hours later, lava fountains from the North and South Vents were reaching record heights. Since the weather was still miserable outside, that gave me an excuse to sit in front of the TV and watch the volcano while I packed for the trip home.
Later that morning, the weather started to clear. It stopped raining. It was still very cloudy and gray outside, but decent enough to go out. Also by that time the best part of the Kilauea eruption was over.
We decided to visit the Gap, an area south of Piha Beach that was accessible only within 2 hours of low tide. I checked the tide tables and it was about 1 hour past the low tide, so we had just enough time to go. It was only about a 15-minute drive down to the beach, and we headed out quickly.
We walked through the sand and passed a lone sea lion on the shore. Ahead of us was Camel Rock which was part of Taitomo Island. It was still very windy from the weather, and the waves from the Tasman Sea were impressive.
We walked further into Puaotetai Bay and saw the Keyhole, a sea arch on the side of Camel Rock. At very low tide it was possible to walk through the Keyhole, but when we arrived, water from the Tasman Sea was already surging through it.
Further south past the Keyhole was the Gap, which separated the mainland from Taitomo Island. The tide was still low enough that I was able to walk through sand on the left side of Puaotetai Bay to reach the rocky edge of the Gap.
From my rocky vantage point I had a nice view of the Keyhole and Puaotetai Bay. In front of me the waves from the Tasman Sea were rushing through the Gap and into the bay.
We did not stay too long since the tide was rising quickly, and the fierce wind made it uncomfortable. Walking back to Piha Beach, we saw the sea lion had moved very little.
Next we explored the main Piha Beach area. The beach was black sand, with Lion Rock to the north and Camel Rock (Taitomo Island) to the south.
We walked closer to Lion Rock. In previous years it was possible to use a trail to climb to the top, but the trail had been closed several years ago due to storm damage. The photo below shows the trail closure sign at the base of the rock on the right side.
We walked to the north of Lion Rock to get a view of North Piha Beach. We did not stay long because we had to deal with some travel issues. While on the beach, I received a message from American Airlines that our flight out of Auckland to Dallas had been delayed by 8 hours, and we had been automatically booked on a later flight from Dallas to Denver. Because of the delay I was going to have to extend the car rental by a day, and all of the paperwork was back at the cottage.
We returned to the cottage, and I had no issues extending the car rental. During that time, our host showed up with the electric heater, and he also supplied some firewood so we could use the fireplace later. I told him about our flight delay and asked if it would be possible to have a later checkout time. He said nobody else was checking in, so we would be able to stay all day if we wanted. That was really good news, because it meant we could spend all morning until early afternoon in the area if we wanted. And the weather forecast was improved for the next day.
Later that afternoon we drove a mile down the road to the Mercer Bay Loop Track Car Park. This was a trail that had been recommended to us by our host. It was a 1.4 km loop around a large headland with great views of the coast.
We took a short side trail to Te Ahua Point, which had another great view of the coastline, Mercer Bay, and the Karekare Beach area.
We walked back to the main trail and completed the loop hike.
Back at the cottage we fixed dinner, made from all of our leftovers since we needed to finish our food supply.
The weather was clearing, and about an hour after dinner we saw our last sunset of the trip. That sunset turned out to be the best one of all. The colors in the clouds were spectacular.
We built a nice fire in the fireplace that evening. It did a great job of warming up the cottage.