"The Gap" at Piha

I'd heard about "The Gap" at Piha and while I was there I thought it might be good to go and have a look. Before I did that, I was wandering around on the main beach, taking in the sights and sounds as well as getting my feet wet as the waves slid up the beach, flat and fast, after each surge.

At one point, I happened to look to the cliffs beyond the south end of the beach...and saw a huge plume of white water appear in - and ABOVE - the gap in the cliffs. It must have been utterly huge to be that big and that high relative to the cliffs.

I headed over there immediately. The walk to The Gap was steep but short, then swept away across the face of a hill. It took maybe 15 mins to get there at a fast walk once I got onto the track from the beach.

It certainly is a dramatic place. I shot this video from a point above the generally sand-filled channel the gap gives entry to. I wasn't lucky enough to capture a wave anything like the one I had witnessed from the other end of the beach, but imagine a plume of water on the left side of the gap that was higher than the face of the cliff. It had to be for me to see it from the bottom of Lion Rock.

I didn't stay long as the rain was visibly coming in from the Tasman Sea and it looked like it was going to set in when it arrived. But I had time to shoot these two minutes of video. They may give you sense of the power and magic of this place.

Turn the sound up! It's 95% roaring sea and waves, 5% wind.

(Click through to YouTube to see this video in 2D or in a different 3D format.)