Running with the Ward's: Woodhill

Last weekend, Justin and I took full advantage of the unseasonably sunny weekend and hit the mountain bike park a waterfall, and the beach. It was still pretty cold (around 13 degrees C for the highs) but wonderfully sunny for most of the week and weekend. On Saturday, we drove out to Woodhill mountain bike park for the second time and really enjoyed riding through the forest trails. We both tried some of the stunts and I even did a see-saw on my bike! On Sunday, I "tricked" Justin into hiking to a waterfall. By "tricked" I mean, I failed to mention it was about a kilometer hike to the falls from the road. We made it to the Mokoroa Falls lookout and Justin caved and let me hike down to the base. In order to get a good view of the base, we needed to cross the river. Justin attempted to not get wet in the river by crossing via rocks while I avoided all pretenses and waded in. That is what my sockless, hiking slipons are for! The view was definitely worth getting my feet wet in the freezing water! I had a great time and am thankful my husband joined me for a short hike! On the way home, we drove out to Bethells Beach for a quick peek. It is a gorgeous beach and we can't wait until warmer weather so we can fully enjoy it!

Trail to Mokoroa Falls

Mokoroa Falls from the lookout

Mokoroa Falls from the base....I am standing in the river at this point

And a close up of the falls

Justin testing a log for use in crossing the river


Bethells Beach....not the best sun light angle for pictures

Lindsay on Bethells Beach in green jeans

Woodhill Bike Park is a mountain biking park a short 25 minute drive from Auckland city. It is laid out kind of like a ski resort in that you get a map of the all the trails and they are marked as to difficulty. We spent about three hours riding in the park and thoroughly enjoyed it! This was our first time doing any off roading on our new bikes but we got the hang of it over the course of the day. Going up hill is really hard and I felt like I had to keep putting my bike in granny-low as other riders zoomed by! Going down hill is pretty scary! You get to going really fast and hit bumps and roots along the way. Justin laughed at me because he said on the steep parts I basically laid on the brakes and slid down the mountain! But hey, I made it! I will say there were only a few women out there so I still felt pretty accomplished! We can't wait to go back and to check out some other trails in the area. We had an early dinner on the way home at Hallertau, a cute little place in Riverhead, a small town outside of Auckland. The food was great and the atmosphere and patio was really fun and relaxing.