Neighbourhood - Piha (with Mark Mitchinson)

Forty kilometres from Auckland, Piha can be wild, wet, windswept, lashed by storms rolling in from the Tasman Sea. Roads get blocked, power goes down, phones get cut off! You have to have something of the pioneering spirit to settle here.

– Mark Mitchinson introduces Piha

I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but I think there's something a little bit off with everyone who lives in Piha! Including myself. Something a little weird and I like that weirdness. 

– Piha local Anne Billick on the area's residents

We weren't actually supposed to live here. But we came out here for a few days' retreat when we first moved to New Zealand and instantly fell in love with it after one day. And then just decided to stay, really, and two years on we're still here.

– Eloise White reflects on moving to Piha from her home in England

Being in New Zealand has influenced my work as well . . . It is the people you meet, it is the new words, the new languages that you come across.

– Julia Marin on how living in Piha has impacted her work as a jeweller

Piha is the birthplace of board riding in New Zealand. In 1958, two surfers came here from California and changed everything. And the amazing waves have been drawing surfers from all over the world ever since.

– Presenter Mark Mitchinson on Piha's surf scene