The drive to Piha is so beautiful and reveals New Zealand’s essence, yet is so close to the city. It was rainy, and then not rainy. I remember thanking God for clearing away the rain pretty soon after I arrived. I watched as this huge stormy cloud that covered the horizon swiftly moved to the west and let the sun brighten up the beach. I spent many hours on this beach and I don’t really remember much about what I did. I was so happy that I went there though. It was a beach that I had heard about through friends, and my hosts and tourist websites, so I assumed it would be crowded. It was not. I think maybe in the 4 hours that I spent there probably 10 people strolled by. Beautiful day.

I left and decided to check in to my air bnb. My host was a super chill, young Gemini surfer.  I went for a run that night and the sunset was glorious. When I got back, I ended up talking with my host for hours about the universe and spirituality. She was a Christian, but also a scientist (typical Gemini) She was intelligent and interesting and I could tell based on her life that she found God through her own experience and wasn’t a Christian because her parents told her to be, or because she was afraid to think for herself. So rare to meet people like that. Overall, I think my talk with her was the most meaningful one in my whole trip and it reminded me of how quickly people are to label others and write them off. “Christian” “atheist” “liberal” “conservative” “young” “old” “German” “Japanese” “Kiwi” like whatever dude. “human”