Auckland & Bay of Islands
To Auckland
I left Rotorua on Tuesday on the Kiwi bus headed for Auckland. For many people on the bus, this was their last journey as many trips start or end at Auckland. We only had one stop on the way today - Mt Maunganui, a seaside town with nice beaches and a big hill (definitely not a mountain!) which we climbed. Although this was only 230m, it seemed a lot further as today was the first day for a while we'd had good weather. From the top of the mount there were some pretty nice views. Back down with enough time for an ice cream, we headed onto Auckland.
Auckland is New Zealand's biggest city (although not the capital), with 1.3 million people (1/3 of the people in NZ!). Didn't do very much here as got here quite late, but did manage to get a trip up the Skytower, the tallest building in New Zealand, to watch the sunset.
Bay of Islands
On Wednesday, I started the next bit of the trip, heading up to Paihia at the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands is comprised of 148 little islands, and Paihia seems to have grown up as a purely tourist town - unless there is a hidden section somewhere, the town centre seems to consist entirely of tour operators, travel centres and souvenir shops! Still, there is enough here to keep me occupied.
Originally I was intending doing a dolphin swimming trip on the first day, but due to date restrictions on another trip I wanted, I postponed this. Instead, on the first day in Paihia I got on board a boat called The Rock, an old roll-on roll-off vehicle ferry that has been converted into a houseboat, to do an overnight cruise. The cruise would consist of going out to some of the more remote islands, and anchoring there overnight. The first highlight of the trip didn't take long - we were looking out to the side of the boat at a small lone penguin when someone spotted dolphins ahead of us. We immediately changed course to follow them, and they started playing with the boat, jumping out of the water and giving us quite a show. They stayed with us for quite some time, allowing a load of nice photos!
After the dolphins left, we had a shooting competition from the back of the boat, trying to shoot a plastic bottle tied to a rope dangling behind the boat with an air rifle - not very easy I can tell you! However, I managed 1 hit out of 3, along with one other guy and 2 girls. As there was a prize each for the best guy & girl, I only had to beat the other guy. Sudden death round to finish off (sounds interesting for a shooting competition!), but neither of us could hit the bottle (the sea was a bit rougher now than earlier), so it was concluded with a game of paper-scissors-stone!!
When we reached our final destination for the night, we anchored up and got the fishing rods out. Most of us just tried fishing from the back of the boat, but a few went out in a little boat for a bit more space. Unfortunately I didn't catch anything, but fortunately dinner was comprised mainly of BBQ food, with the fish as an extra. The little boat managed to catch a fair amount of snapper, which was added to the dinner. Once we'd finished dinner and it had got dark, we got the kayaks out and went for a little night-time trip. This was really cool, as the water was again full of the phosphorescence I'd seen at Te Kaha previously. However, this was much better here as it would be stirred up by the paddles, the boats, and most impressively, all the fish in the water! They would shoot between the boats, and jump out of the water leaving green trails.
The next day, we took the boats to the beach, where we had lunch and went for a walk. There was some snorkelling available, but I wasn't in for long before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort - there had been a cyclone in the area recently and visibility still wasn't very good at all. Eventually we made it back to Paiahia, where I checked into my hostel in time for a big BBQ (I'm going to have so many BBQs on this trip!).
Cape Reinga Day Trip
On Friday I had a very early start to catch a day trip bus up to Cape Reinga, the most northerly point of NZ. This bus was a different one to normal - equipped to deal with driving on a beach! It wasn't long before our journey took us onto "Ninety Mile Beach" - which is actually a public road (although apparently most insurance policies are void here!). The beach is not actually 90 miles long, but the name comes from a guy who used to keep cattle on land at the very north of NZ, and take them down to towns further south to sell. Cattle apparently do 30 miles in one day, and it took them 3 days to walk the length of the beach. Hence the owner figured the beach much be 90 miles long, and lived in ignorance for a few years until someone actually measured it! We had to get along the beach fairly quickly, as the tide was coming in. The dangers of this became apparent when we came across a Mercedes, half submerged in the sand! They'd apparently got stuck by the incoming tide, and tried to drive out up a stream. This would normally work, but on the day in question there had been heavy rain, and the stream actually had loads of water!
At the end of the beach, there are a load of pretty tall sand dunes. So of course, we grabbed body boards from the bus, headed up to the top (quite hard work!) then went sandboarding. Much fun, especially when people don't brake with their feet and keep going over the stream at the bottom! After this, we headed up to Cape Reinga, the most northerly point, where the Tasman sea and Pacific meet. This is a sacred Maori place, as Maori believe that when they die, their spirits travel along the coast before leaving at Cape Reinga for Hawaiki, where the Maori are believed to come from (probably somewhere in Polynesia). Then we nipped over to a beach for lunch and some swimming.
On the way home, we stopped at a wood outlet selling furniture and other things made from ancient Kauri trees - almost the largest trees in the world (after Giant Redwoods). Some of this stuff was pretty expensive - they had a couch for NZ$40,000! They also had a spiral staircase carved out of one of these trees - very impressive. We stopped in a small part of NZ's remaining rainforest on the way home to see some of the younger Kauri trees there - there were only 400-600 years old. They can easily grow to over 4,000 years old!
I'm now staying in Paihia for a few more days, as it is a NZ national holiday - Waitangi day, celebrating the signing of a treaty between the British and the Maori. Lots of celebrations going on apparently, so I'm off now to check some of those out. It does mean however that the hostels are all getting quite full up - I've had to move hostels today as mine was fully booked and I couldn't stay another night!
I left Rotorua on Tuesday on the Kiwi bus headed for Auckland. For many people on the bus, this was their last journey as many trips start or end at Auckland. We only had one stop on the way today - Mt Maunganui, a seaside town with nice beaches and a big hill (definitely not a mountain!) which we climbed. Although this was only 230m, it seemed a lot further as today was the first day for a while we'd had good weather. From the top of the mount there were some pretty nice views. Back down with enough time for an ice cream, we headed onto Auckland.
Auckland is New Zealand's biggest city (although not the capital), with 1.3 million people (1/3 of the people in NZ!). Didn't do very much here as got here quite late, but did manage to get a trip up the Skytower, the tallest building in New Zealand, to watch the sunset.
Bay of Islands
On Wednesday, I started the next bit of the trip, heading up to Paihia at the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands is comprised of 148 little islands, and Paihia seems to have grown up as a purely tourist town - unless there is a hidden section somewhere, the town centre seems to consist entirely of tour operators, travel centres and souvenir shops! Still, there is enough here to keep me occupied.
Originally I was intending doing a dolphin swimming trip on the first day, but due to date restrictions on another trip I wanted, I postponed this. Instead, on the first day in Paihia I got on board a boat called The Rock, an old roll-on roll-off vehicle ferry that has been converted into a houseboat, to do an overnight cruise. The cruise would consist of going out to some of the more remote islands, and anchoring there overnight. The first highlight of the trip didn't take long - we were looking out to the side of the boat at a small lone penguin when someone spotted dolphins ahead of us. We immediately changed course to follow them, and they started playing with the boat, jumping out of the water and giving us quite a show. They stayed with us for quite some time, allowing a load of nice photos!
After the dolphins left, we had a shooting competition from the back of the boat, trying to shoot a plastic bottle tied to a rope dangling behind the boat with an air rifle - not very easy I can tell you! However, I managed 1 hit out of 3, along with one other guy and 2 girls. As there was a prize each for the best guy & girl, I only had to beat the other guy. Sudden death round to finish off (sounds interesting for a shooting competition!), but neither of us could hit the bottle (the sea was a bit rougher now than earlier), so it was concluded with a game of paper-scissors-stone!!
When we reached our final destination for the night, we anchored up and got the fishing rods out. Most of us just tried fishing from the back of the boat, but a few went out in a little boat for a bit more space. Unfortunately I didn't catch anything, but fortunately dinner was comprised mainly of BBQ food, with the fish as an extra. The little boat managed to catch a fair amount of snapper, which was added to the dinner. Once we'd finished dinner and it had got dark, we got the kayaks out and went for a little night-time trip. This was really cool, as the water was again full of the phosphorescence I'd seen at Te Kaha previously. However, this was much better here as it would be stirred up by the paddles, the boats, and most impressively, all the fish in the water! They would shoot between the boats, and jump out of the water leaving green trails.
The next day, we took the boats to the beach, where we had lunch and went for a walk. There was some snorkelling available, but I wasn't in for long before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort - there had been a cyclone in the area recently and visibility still wasn't very good at all. Eventually we made it back to Paiahia, where I checked into my hostel in time for a big BBQ (I'm going to have so many BBQs on this trip!).
Cape Reinga Day Trip
On Friday I had a very early start to catch a day trip bus up to Cape Reinga, the most northerly point of NZ. This bus was a different one to normal - equipped to deal with driving on a beach! It wasn't long before our journey took us onto "Ninety Mile Beach" - which is actually a public road (although apparently most insurance policies are void here!). The beach is not actually 90 miles long, but the name comes from a guy who used to keep cattle on land at the very north of NZ, and take them down to towns further south to sell. Cattle apparently do 30 miles in one day, and it took them 3 days to walk the length of the beach. Hence the owner figured the beach much be 90 miles long, and lived in ignorance for a few years until someone actually measured it! We had to get along the beach fairly quickly, as the tide was coming in. The dangers of this became apparent when we came across a Mercedes, half submerged in the sand! They'd apparently got stuck by the incoming tide, and tried to drive out up a stream. This would normally work, but on the day in question there had been heavy rain, and the stream actually had loads of water!
At the end of the beach, there are a load of pretty tall sand dunes. So of course, we grabbed body boards from the bus, headed up to the top (quite hard work!) then went sandboarding. Much fun, especially when people don't brake with their feet and keep going over the stream at the bottom! After this, we headed up to Cape Reinga, the most northerly point, where the Tasman sea and Pacific meet. This is a sacred Maori place, as Maori believe that when they die, their spirits travel along the coast before leaving at Cape Reinga for Hawaiki, where the Maori are believed to come from (probably somewhere in Polynesia). Then we nipped over to a beach for lunch and some swimming.
On the way home, we stopped at a wood outlet selling furniture and other things made from ancient Kauri trees - almost the largest trees in the world (after Giant Redwoods). Some of this stuff was pretty expensive - they had a couch for NZ$40,000! They also had a spiral staircase carved out of one of these trees - very impressive. We stopped in a small part of NZ's remaining rainforest on the way home to see some of the younger Kauri trees there - there were only 400-600 years old. They can easily grow to over 4,000 years old!
I'm now staying in Paihia for a few more days, as it is a NZ national holiday - Waitangi day, celebrating the signing of a treaty between the British and the Maori. Lots of celebrations going on apparently, so I'm off now to check some of those out. It does mean however that the hostels are all getting quite full up - I've had to move hostels today as mine was fully booked and I couldn't stay another night!
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