We decided to spend our second day in NZ to the west of Auckland, having been told that the Waitakere Regional Park was very beautiful and not too far away. So, we headed into town and, after breakfast in Auckland, we got on a train going to Waitakere. However the train only went as far as Swanson, so we had a half hour wait on Swanson station for the next train which went all the way to Waitakere. Our little tourist map said "Waitakere City" - but it turned out that Waitakere itself was nothing more than a railway station, firebrigade and 'dairy' (what Kiwis call corner stores). We asked at the dairy about getting to the beach, but the local beach was about 30km away and had no back-packers so, reluctantly we took our packs back to the railway station to wait for the train back as far as Henderson, where it seemed likely that we would be able to get to a beach called Piha where there was a back-packers. We couldn't find a bus to the beach so we asked a girl waiting at the bus-stop where the beach was. She didn't seem to be sure, but suggest we go back to Glen Eden where there was a pub that locals from Piha were to be found. The bus-driver, however said we should go to New Lynn. So we embarked on a long suburban bus trip, only to find that the only bus that when anywhere near Piha was actually from Henderson as we thought. It was getting late and so we decided to follow the girl's original advice and caught the train to Glen Eden, and, just when we were about to give up - we decided to ask a taxi driver how much it would cost to get to Piha. The taxi was $40 but WORTH EVERY CENT to finally reach the west coast of Auckland. The regional park is beautiful and the beach is stunning. We are staying in a cabin in the hills above the beach (run by Piha Surf shop) and it magical. We had a great meal at the RSA and watched a beautiful sunset over the ocean. The Kiwis of west Auckland may not know how to find their beaches, and public transport to them is difficult. But they are worth every bit of the effort.
