Alas, 2016 has come and gone, and with it, the good and the bad are more or less swept away for a bright new 365 days, I mean - you know - aside the "leader" of our country for the next four years being a small-handed, hyper-sexist man-child. That nightmare unfortunately will haunt us long past 2017. Now that all the boozing, merriment and nostalgia of the holidays is drawing to an end, now may again be a nice time to illustrate a bit more of my life Down Under.
Quite a bit has been happening down here since my last photographic update --first off, I spent a warm summer Christmas with Kiwi relatives, and along with my cousin, Audrey, I was lucky enough to receive a zip-line hiking tour of Waiheke Island.
Below is a taste of what went down...
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOirceBDLsP/?taken-by=fitzy_madden
Oh yeah, and I got me a surfboard. This one is taken after a session at Piha Beach, just north of Auckland.
Who would've thought, but I made some friends! This is Mickey, an Italian bartender I met working in the city. He makes a mean Negroni and is always down for exploring. In the case below, we're overlooking Anawhata Beach after a hike up some less-than-marked overgrown trails.
Now not only have I obviously done well connecting with fellow travelers, but this cabin below marks a strong benefit of befriending locals. A native friend of mine was nice enough to let me crash at this bad boy for a weekend in the secluded hills north of Auckland. The cabin is nestled up in densely wooded sub-tropic hills about 5 minutes out from a desolate beach - good surf, marginal weather, but still a kick-ass trip.
In addition to time spent on the coast up north, last week I took a trip down south to Wellington for a bit of meandering in the capital city. Below is "The Beehive," the parliament building of New Zealand. Just basically one giant dome in the middle of a city not much larger than Detroit.
After spending only a few days in the big city hustle of Wellington, I retreated back north again to the home island. Waiheke never seems to disappoint as far as scenery is concerned, whether it's the vast prairies of the Northeast...
... Or the holiday-trafficked beaches of the West.
...Or just a lonely dock, there's beauty everywhere. Sure, it's a simple life, but there's something new around the corner every day, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Until next time, Kia Ora!
