It was strange on the bus up to the Bay of Islands, as most of the people had all just got to NZ and were just starting out on the bus. We stopped at a pretty waterfall on our way and when we got to Paihia wondered around the town. That evening we stayed in and watched some movies whilst eating pasta. The next day there was a festival on in Paihia, however, as it was $50 each to enter and it was bucketing it down with rain, we decided to sit inside a nearby cafe where we could remain dry but still hear the music.
The following day was much sunnier, which was lucky as we had booked to go on a Cape Reinga tour. Cape Reinga is the most northerly point in New Zealand, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It was really cool as you could actually see where the two oceans met, as the seas were moving in opposite directions and there were waves crashing into each other in the middle of the ocean. It was extremely windy here and our hair is long and crazy so it took us about 40 tries to actually get a decent picture of us with the lighthouse which stands at Cape Reinga. We then made our way onto Te Paki sand dunes which were so massive you could see them from miles away. We climbed to the top of the dunes and boarded down a few times, resulting in sand ending up all over us. After this we carried on to 90 mile beach (which is only actually about 55 miles long), which our coach drove along. The beach is considered a highway, and there were a few cars driving along here. We stopped at a couple of spots to take pictures and to paddle in the sea. Along the way we spotted a couple of walkers who were trekking one of the great walks of New Zealand, which starts at the most northerly point in Cape Reinga and goes around the country, finishing in the South Island (this takes about 5 months to complete!). We made a quick pitstop at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom, where we could see Kauri wood which is 45,000 years old! Next, we got bluenose fish & chips at Manganui fish & chip shop. The fish here was delicious – neither of us are massive fish fans, but we both loved this (better than Ed’s fish & chips). Our final stop was the Waipoua forest, which is home to a massive old Kauri tree. After wandering around the forest (and being made to sing the national anthem into the forest), we made our way back onto the bus and headed back to Paihia. The day was fun, we got to visit lots of New Zealand’s famous sights – however, there was a lot of sitting on a bus involved, and if it’s not included in your pass we wouldn’t say it is worth paying $150 to take part in the tour. That evening we bought a tub of ice cream each (as it was cheaper than buying a cone), sat on the beachfront and watched the sun set.
The hostel we stayed at (Bay Adventurer) had tennis courts, so on Monday morning we played a game of tennis. When we were finished we made our way down to the harbour, where we hopped on a boat to go parasailing. We were strapped into a harness and within 15 minutes we were soaring above the Bay of Islands at about 600 feet. It was amazing to see the harbour from this height.
The next day, we finished off our tubs of ice cream, and at 2pm we boarded the bus to return to Auckland. This wasn’t the best idea we’ve ever had, as both of us felt pretty sick when making our way round the bendy roads. We arrived back in Auckland that evening, where we were picked up by Matt, whose house we were staying at whilst in Auckland. Other than visiting Brown’s Bay, the next few days consisted of us watching TV, planning our Australia travels in more depth, eating and sleeping.
On Saturday we headed back into the city centre, visiting a cafe in Ponsonby and headed up One Tree Hill (which now has no trees as some Maoris cut it down). We had the brilliant idea of not booking a hostel room for that night, realising we could save 30 bucks by going out for Halloween and then staying up to watch the rugby final. At 4.30am we realised this was one of the worst ideas we’ve had this holiday. After traipsing around Auckland’s hostels trying to find a bed for the night (which were all fully booked), we ended up sitting on the side of the street waiting for the sun to come up. We’d been trying to visit a hospital for the past couple of weeks to have Tamzin’s knee looked at, so we decided this was the perfect time for that to happen. However, after being told that we wouldn’t be able to see a doctor until 9am, we returned to our spot on the side of the street. Luckily, Joe (a uni friend of Tamzin’s who currently lives in Auckland) was starting work at 5am, so we finally managed to secure ourselves a bed. This did mean that we would miss the rugby World Cup final, but our need for sleep outweighed our want to watch a game that we didn’t understand.
Our final day was spent eating Domino’s and recovering from Saturday night. We got up at 4.30am this morning and are now sitting in Auckland airport waiting to board our flight.
Australia here we come!!
Lots of love,
Sam & Tam x
meadsonthemove 