Beware of the Tides

Having moved into their new apartment in one day and looking forward to two days of vacation, Bryan and Jane decided to head out on Easter Sunday morning to the beach town of Piha.  Located about thirty minutes west of central Auckland, Piha sits on the eastern shore of the Tasman Sea, the body of water that flows between New Zealand and Australia.  People at Bryan's office told him that Piha was the place to go for a day at the beach.  There's even a fairly popular TV program in New Zealand called "Piha Rescues" about the life guards at the beach.  Where could be a better place to spend a late-summer day than there?

The drive out to Piha involved narrow roads that wound up and d

own a series of volcanoes and hills.  Bryan enjoyed whipping their new station wagon around

the bends, while Jane held on to the door for dear life while peering out her window at the jagged ravines below them.  Once they had reached the apex of a particularly

 high hill, Bryan pointed out to his left and said, 

"There, that must be the beach."  And indeed it was - the seemingly endless Tasman Sea roaring out to the west.  Bryan, Jane, and the Corolla curved down the hill toward the black sandy beaches of Piha.

At first sight, it seems that there is something terribly wrong with the beaches of Piha.  Waves crash in three cycles - one about 100 yards out to sea, one about 50 yards out, and one on the shore itself - a product of the mighty waters of the ocean coming into contact with the giant rock formations standing sentinel just off the shore.

Pools of water about 2 or 3 feet deep form along the beach, and little children splash and play in

these mini, waveless oceans.  And then there is the sand: black.  Volcanic material in the soil

around Piha turns the sand into a soft ebony color that heats up intensely in the summer

Southern Hemisphere sun.  Bryan and Jane keep their flip-flops (of jandals, as they are called in New Zealand) as they walk from the parking lot to the beach.

Piha offers much for the visitor.  Bryan and Jane spend the next five hours wading in the shallow waters near the shore to climb the foremost rock formation, riding the powerful waves of the Tasman and attempting to avoid the s

trong currents, and putting on their socks and sneakers to hike the trails through the bush that surround the main beach.  As day slips into dusk, Bryan and Jane get back in the car and head to a more secluded beach, where they walk the wide open vastness of New Zealand's western shore as the sun sets.