I hadn’t seen black sand in my life, until I was introduced to the west coast beaches of Auckland. The beauty of something so foreign. It sparkles, it literally sparkles. On the west coast the weather is a bit more windy and unpredictable, as is all of New Zealand. However, this a bit more.

Here I stand, at the edge of a country, rocky cliffs and caves formed throughout. The thought sends all the hairs on my arm to stand up. I have had this thought many times, in different ways while traveling. I believe it all comes down to the idea of how incredible our Earth is. This planet that has hundreds cultures, lands and bodies of water. This gift of Mother Earth, it is humbling and amazing.

We are staying at Whatipu, a beach a little south of Piha on the west coast. The sands are volcanic black sands, that stretch for miles. We were warned of the crashing waves and to be cautious that not many swim in these waters. They are breathtaking to gaze upon though.

This one one of our first extended camping trips in the good ol’ Hubert. After a day of driving and beach walking we were ready to cook. One of our favorite hobbies. Let me paint the picture, blue skies, the crash of ocean waves, sunset to our west - sounds great right? It was! However, we didn’t get the memo, the mosquitos here were AGGRESSIVE! Since we had no clue, we left all of our doors/ windows wide open, and our back door propped open as well. After a delicious meal of Pad Thai (our on the road speciality) we crawled in the van and started closing up. bzzz…BzzzZz…BZZZZ! Mosquitos have the worst noise, because they move so swiftly and right by your ear. Let me tell you, not one, not ten, no even twenty mosquitos - THIS WAS A WHOLE COLONY OF THEM! I shit you not, Michael and I were squashing them left and right non stop for a hour straight, only to realize we left a window open and that was only the first wave of them. I can only imagine to the other campers it must have looked like we were having a party, hitting the ceiling for an hour straight, oh did I mention we had bright red, yellow and green Christmas lights on too? Yes, we looked like absolute loonies.

Every bit of that was crazy, and yet - totally worth it. Not only is it a great battle story, it was a lesson learned.

TIP #432 : CLOSE UP VAN BY SUNDOWN, as soon as it starts setting those little rascals are out for blood.

This was quite funny to think on the next day, and even an hour after the whole incident. The following day we thought we would do our fellow travelers a favor and go around warning everyone about the attacks at sun down. Some thanked us, some laughed and Michael even was called the Mosquito Man. But man, did we get the last laugh. That night, the same drunken travelers were punching their ceilings and cursing the mosquitos. Michael and I had a solid hour of free entertainment watching everyone using their flashlights and whatever they could to hunt down the last mosquitos. I am laughing now even thinking of this night.

The cool thing about the coast, is that along the ridged cliffs you can find caves. Yeah, CAVES. This is another thing I can scratch off my bucket list. The caves that are in New Zealand are quite amazing. Here in Whatipu we were able to tour through 6-9 of them within a 45 minute trek. The largest one was used in special Maori gatherings. They would sing, dance and have fire ceremonies. The energy of these places just radiated throughout the trek. I Highly recommend this beach and location - it was quite and not too far outside of the city - and you do not see or feel any vibe of city life.

p.s. If you do visit these black sands, take a magnet! The sand will lift up, as it has iron in it.

It’s quite eye opening the appreciation you gain after camping in a van for a few days. For instance : A hot shower, a bedroom, a kitchen table, multiple burners on a stove….just to name a few things…Living in our van is exciting, liberating and confined (especially during rainy weather). I wouldn’t trade these moments for anything.

Xoxo

Mosquitos. A True Vampire Tale.