Backyard Travel

2024: Best-ever Summer swim

January 17th 2024, and while the hillsides are still slip-scarred (even Lion Rock didn't escape), Piha is still the best. Tide's out and an easterly makes for gentle surf. No rips, side or backwash, no undertow. There's more danger of blistering your feet on the black sand than being swept out to sea, according to the lifeguard announcements. It's hot, high 20s. The sea's cool, but not icy. We swim and we swim and we swim, then top it off with a real fruit ice-cream. Gotta love Piha. Gotta love Summer.

2023: Summer never came

Not to Auckland. Not in 2023. January arrived along with the worst flood the city has ever seen. Two weeks later, an extropical cyclone followed and stayed for long three days. The amount of water that poured down was phenomenal - and devastating. Out West, whole mountainsides slipped into the sea. Even if there had been some beachy, sunshiny days, all our favourite beaches were inaccessible. Muriwai: a massive slip that claimed lives and changed the landscape forever. Piha: scary slips and flooding. Ditto for Bethells. Karekare: completely cut off, the residents reliant on helicopters to fly in supplies. Not fun. Not fun at all.

2022: Summer in our backyard

Picking up where we left off in Summer 2020, we're planning on swimming at every West Coast beach that has lifesavers on duty. By the 11th of January 2022 we've already had several dips. It's hot, hot, hot and so far we've cooled off at Bethells and Karekare as well as Piha. This North Piha beach is a first for us - a revelation. We usually opt for the more dramatic Lion Rock side. Today the water is warm and the surf well-behaved, and apart from a lifeguard and shoals of tiny fish darting in the foamy shallows, it's all ours. Our new favourite.

2021: Summer is back

Traditionally our first swim of summer happens at Piha. This year, unexpectedly, it's Karekare. Only our second swim EVER at this beach but the conditions are perfect. Almost warm, gentle surf (by West Coast standards) and just enough of a sea breeze to keep things cool. Apart from the sparkling black sand that is, which blisters our feet. January 6th 2021, with a large part of the world locked down, we're feeling incredibly lucky to have summer back.

2020: Locked out of Summer

Since March 2020, there's been no more frolicking in the waves for us. Our plan this summer was to swim at every West Coast beach that had lifesavers on duty. Instead we've had to content ourselves with this tiny view of Laingholm Bay from our deck. If I have to be locked down anywhere, I'm so grateful it's here. There's nowhere in the world I'd rather be. Armchair travel is the only kind of travelling I'm interested in doing right now.

2020: Summer in full swing

7th of Feb 2020, and our first swim EVER at Karekare Beach. Where did this perfect day come from? Usually we're hiding from southerlies behind the dunes, but today there's just enough of a sea breeze to temper the 27 degree heat. The water is almost warm and the criss-crossy waves so much fun to splash around in. Then there's the stunning amphitheatre beach to wander around on, ringed by steep, bush-clad hills.
Gotta love summer.

2019: The first day of Summer

It's a ritual for us. Regardless of what the official 1st day of summer is, it's not summer until we've swum at Piha Beach. This year summer comes early by our reckoning, on the 12th of December 2019 (often it's mid January before we'll venture into the waves). It's a get-to-the-beach kind of day, sunny and unseasonably warm with the gentlest of sea breezes. The water temp makes us gasp and the black sand burns our feet. This is what we dreamed of through the long winter months. Gotta love summer.