Day 4: Auckland: Caves and Beaches

The Sadlier kids skipped school today to join us for a day of adventure north of Auckland. We split up the families in the cars for the long drive, so Rob drove the boy car while Amanda drove the girl car. It was really fun to get to catch up while enjoying such gorgeous views. The terraced green landscaping and beautiful, unfamiliar trees seemed magical. Our first stop was Waipu Caves, which ended up being a full sensory experience. We walked through the shallow, cool river in the dark cave using our head torches to lead the way. Once we were a little ways into the cave we turned off the lights and experienced our first glow worms, attached to the top of the caves. It was so cool, similar to looking up to see the stars at night. We could also see some of their thin, stringy webs they use to catch insects attracted to their light.

After the caves, beach time! But first, we stopped for some lunch at Mangawhai Tavern, which included a quick course in some nomenclature differences (e.g. ketchup is tomato sauce).

Next, we headed off to Te Arai Beach Reserve, which had a small, protected shell beach on one side and a more traditional big, sandy beach on the other. Riding bodyboards brought back huge smiles for all of us, reminiscing about using them extensively on our first RV trip. As always, there was sand digging to be had, too.