Hitch Hiking back..
pretty cool on the beech, huge waves being pushed by a strong wind. oh, there's a couple of Fat Cats who have their own transport. A lucky break perhaps as we need to get a ride back to Sunny Vale. Yes, they can give me and Haruki a lift, sometime around 5pm at the main car park. That gives us a little more time to explore the rock pools and walking over the dunes towards the tsunami safe ground is interesting. Haruki needs another drink and so heads off to the beach shop, leaving me alone to find my way around. Piha is a select area, holiday homes and million dollar views I would guess as there are many properties built high into the hillsides. A large camping ground set just back from the beach catering to those end of season surfers and holiday makers. Yep, its pretty quiet around here, sleepy, far removed from any hustle and bustle of a large seaside place like Blackpool or Yarmouth.
Bad news, the Fat Cats who promised us a lift have changed their plans - no lift! The place is quiet and getting quieter, better move now since any prospect of thumbing a ride later might be difficult, maybe impossible. Haruki knows the best place to catch a lift, so I follow his lead. Unfortunately though, its taking longer, much longer as every passing vehicle, well, just passes. A change of plan is needed - lets go to the car park, try to catch drivers as they get ready to leave, even offer a few dollars as its now 5pm. We tried it, and failed. No takers, various excuses offered. Well, that's not strictly true, we did get a ride, as far as the local shop in the village! Maybe from there, we''ll have better luck. Faced with a night sleeping on the beach, a prospect Haruki wanted to avoid, desperation sets in. He wanted to pay for a taxi, I wanted to try one more time to hitch. The shop owner takes pity, made us a sign in the hope that would do the trick. But even they think its a lost cause at 5.30pm on a Monday night when nobody leaves Piha.
A hike back to the original pick-up spot to try our luck again. its a 4-way junction, but traffic around here is painfully slow. Plenty of smiles, waves and rejections, that taxi ride beginning to look more of a necessity as time passes. A prospective ride pulls up to Haruki, he obviously has something I don't! Somehow in his Japanese styled English negotiates a ride back for us both, it's only taken 2 1/2 hours to hitch a ride from Piha.
Our driver is one of the life guards, recounting his experiances and explaining how dangerous that beach can be to tourists unaware of its dangerous currents. Haruki looks quite relieved, even more so when the driver tells us a taxy would set us back $160 NZD.
pretty cool on the beech, huge waves being pushed by a strong wind. oh, there's a couple of Fat Cats who have their own transport. A lucky break perhaps as we need to get a ride back to Sunny Vale. Yes, they can give me and Haruki a lift, sometime around 5pm at the main car park. That gives us a little more time to explore the rock pools and walking over the dunes towards the tsunami safe ground is interesting. Haruki needs another drink and so heads off to the beach shop, leaving me alone to find my way around. Piha is a select area, holiday homes and million dollar views I would guess as there are many properties built high into the hillsides. A large camping ground set just back from the beach catering to those end of season surfers and holiday makers. Yep, its pretty quiet around here, sleepy, far removed from any hustle and bustle of a large seaside place like Blackpool or Yarmouth.
Bad news, the Fat Cats who promised us a lift have changed their plans - no lift! The place is quiet and getting quieter, better move now since any prospect of thumbing a ride later might be difficult, maybe impossible. Haruki knows the best place to catch a lift, so I follow his lead. Unfortunately though, its taking longer, much longer as every passing vehicle, well, just passes. A change of plan is needed - lets go to the car park, try to catch drivers as they get ready to leave, even offer a few dollars as its now 5pm. We tried it, and failed. No takers, various excuses offered. Well, that's not strictly true, we did get a ride, as far as the local shop in the village! Maybe from there, we''ll have better luck. Faced with a night sleeping on the beach, a prospect Haruki wanted to avoid, desperation sets in. He wanted to pay for a taxi, I wanted to try one more time to hitch. The shop owner takes pity, made us a sign in the hope that would do the trick. But even they think its a lost cause at 5.30pm on a Monday night when nobody leaves Piha.
A hike back to the original pick-up spot to try our luck again. its a 4-way junction, but traffic around here is painfully slow. Plenty of smiles, waves and rejections, that taxi ride beginning to look more of a necessity as time passes. A prospective ride pulls up to Haruki, he obviously has something I don't! Somehow in his Japanese styled English negotiates a ride back for us both, it's only taken 2 1/2 hours to hitch a ride from Piha.
Our driver is one of the life guards, recounting his experiances and explaining how dangerous that beach can be to tourists unaware of its dangerous currents. Haruki looks quite relieved, even more so when the driver tells us a taxy would set us back $160 NZD.
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