Kerekere Beach

Not satisfied with beaches after the Waiheke trip, Shannon and I went out on a hike starting from Kerekere beach on the west coast. It's only about 45 minutes outside Auckland, in the Waitekere Ranges. It's a pretty amazing area to be essentially right around the corner. Tons of trails to hike, great black sand beaches, undulating terrain. Sweet.

After an exposed walk to the top of the ridge, the trail ducks into really dense, ferny forest.

Then it's a decent back to the beach, where you walk through vast black sand dunes that just border the cliffs. It was a bit of a slog through the dunes, but a really neat environment to see. It's marshland, so there are some interesting birds and vegetation.

We did enjoy a lovely lunch on the black sand beach before heading back. Pretty nice, casual Sunday, I'd say.