Piha beach is amazing! This is the place to go for high waves. A famous spot for surfers. However, also dangerous. And don't expect a beach restaurant. For a bootle of beer you have to backtrack 20+k windy road through Waitakere rainforest. - I took this picture (shown here at reduced resolution) with a digital Agfa ActionCam .
Maori arrived in waka's (canoes) from Polynesia about 1200. The Te Kawarau tribe settled in the Waitakere Ranges region West of Auckland. Europeans arrived a few years later. Abel Tasman, born in Groningen (The Netherlands), exactly on 13th December 1642.