October 21

Went into town today for groceries and then back to Piha via Titirangi... I really need to visit this place.

Went into town and got grocerys as well as laundry. Very very strange was the fact that the laundrymat guy gave us 3 beers.... this is at 11:00am.... I dont think I look like an alcoholic but whatever I guess free beer is still free. So we headed down the road to for Geoff to get copies for a newsletter. Thomas and I walked over to Gamestop. I simply needed to see what kind of video games were available here! I just had to! All I need to say is wow I'm glad I am not a gamer in NZ, all of the new releases were $110, even with the conversion rate that is a crazy amount of money to pay. I bought the game Portal for $15 (most amazing game ever btw, highly reccomend even to non-gamers) Anyways so we continued on back to Piha but took a different way home.

Today was my first visit to the town of Titirangi, it has a upper class feel to it for some reason, very similar to driving through the village section of Caz. Seemed very walkable and friendly as well but I have not really come across any parts of NZ that have felt otherwise really. I very briefly drove through the town on my way back to Piha with Geoff and Thomas. We made a quick stop at Geoffs moms house to drop off some ratepayer newsletters and pick up a trailer. Geoffs mom invited us into the house. I had a look around outside, was neat to see Japanese Maple, some hydrangeas, a magnolia tree, and stuff that looked like sage but i wasnt sure. The back yard had a nice little pool that overlooked into a harbor. WOW what a difference between here and Piha. Tititangi is on the east side of the Waitakere Ranges faces inland, it is protected from the Tasman and the shore was unbelivably calm, and very shallow, AND made out of what looked like crushed shells a stark contrast to Pihas black sand. Wish I didnt talk to Katy about the differences in sands cuz that would be a really neat thing to put into my notebook.

Regardless, I need to come back to the town and have a look around as well as visit the Arataki Visitor Centre which should hold a wealth of information. I also have a few contacts in this area that are apart of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society that I need to talk to.