The Northlands and Itinerary Changes

I spent just under a week with Anne and Herb Hart and there 2 very cute Yorkshire terriers (Pepe and Rene) just outside Christchurch in a place called Kaiapoi.  I slept for about 11 hours straight almost every night I was with them ... I was shattered after the Stray tour.  Didn't do much else as my diving trip to Picton and the Lermontov (sunken Russian Cruise liner) was cancelled due to the weather but I did managed to catch up with Steve and Georgie Walker who I met diving in Rarotonga which was great and we had a lovely lunch at the art gallery in Christchurch.

I flew back to Auckland on 20th Jan and stayed with Becky's house mates the Pome Helen's, yes 3 Helen's in one house I thinnk their new house mate though we were taking the preverbial when they introduced me to him.

21st January I headed into Central Auckland to pick up another Stray tour this time of the Northlands.  First off we stopped just outside the lovely little town of Warkworht to see the ancient McKinney Kauri tree which is 800 years old, has a girth of 7.62m and its heigth to its first limb is 11.89m ... its BIG!!!

After a quick morning tea stop in Warkworth (has to be my favourite little town in New Zealand) we headed to the beach just outside of Whangerei and it suddenly dawned on me that the beach I was sitting on is the same one I flew over in the helicopter when I first arrived in New Zealand ... that was over 3 months ago now.

Lunch stop was in Whangerei and we also stopped in at the falls there.  Once again there were small fearless children jumping off ledges and swing ropes into the water ... it seems to be a right of passage here.

Our next stop was a little bizarre and certainly brought a new meaning to a comfort break.  We stopped in Kawakawa to see some toilets designed by an Austrian architect and ecologist Frederick Hundertwasser ... certainly the most ornate public toilets I have been to but still a little strange that we stopped just to see them and apparently its the top tourist attraction for the town!

We arrived into Paihia about 3.30pm, booked the trip we were going to be doing and then I was completely taken aback when the tour went roaring past the Witangi Treaty Ground with our dirver meerly pointing in the general direction of it ... For those of you that don't know the Witangi Treaty is probably THE most significant agreement in New Zealand between the Maoris and the European settlers, its also not without it controversy (there are 2 copies, one in English one in Maori and something got "lost" in translation shall we say).

We were then dropped at the Pipi Patch Base Hostel where I quickly dumped my stuff and headed up to the treaty ground on my own to go and have a look round as it was one of the main things I wanted to do/see when I came up here.  I spent about an hour up at the treaty ground and I was really glad I went.  Its been really well laid out and you could almost feel the history and significance of the site, not to mention the amazing views over the Bay of Islands form up there.  Its also coming up to Witangi Day here in New Zealand (6th Feb) so they are preparing the grounds for the anniversary and they had some special Waka (canoes) at the ground that are not normally there.

Eventually got back to the hostel about 6.30pm and after a quick shower we headed off for the BBQ and a few pints.

Up early the following day for our trip to Cape Reigna and I spent most of the day with a lovely Irish girl called Rachel and a few others from bus up from Auckland. 

First port of call was 90 mile beach which we found out isn't in fact 90 miles but 64 miles whoever measured it the first time got it wrong ... least said the better on that one I think.  We dorve up the beach very fast for about 30 minutes with a few photos stops.  The weather wasn't brilliant but luckily when we stopped at the sand dunes the sun came out just in time for our boogie boarding down the dunes.  i had to do this in stages as the top of the dune seemed a little too high up to start with especially as you are coming down face first and we were told we could pick up enough speed to end up in the bushes the other side of the stream at the bottom .... it was brilliant fun!!!!

Ended up with snad in places I didn't even know you could get sand.

After that we headed to another beautiful beach for lunch before actually getting to Cape Reinga and walking out to the cliff tops where you can see the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet and its really does look like you can see them meeting.  There's also a really cute little light house up here too.

After that we head back via the Kauri Gumdiggers Museum and the ancient Kauri Kingdom ... Kauri trees are protected in New Zealand and you are not allowed to cut them down but in the past they had been used for all sorts of of things from building boats and ships to using the gum to make varnish, paint, etc.

The last stop before home was the Mangonui fish Shop for $7 fish and chips which I have to say have to be the best fish and chips I have ever had.  Arrived back in Paihia about 7pm completely shattered and was fast asleep before the sun went down.


The following morning Rachel and I went on the Discover the Bay boat trip and saw 5 bottle nosed dolphins playing in the Bay which ws fab although once again I haven't got brilliant photos but they were leaping out of the water doing flips, twirls and all sorts ... oh and then the captain pointed out they were fornecating ... NICE!!!

The rest of the boat trip was lovely in and around all the little Islands (144 Islands) and we took a trip out to Hole in the Rock which we went through ... gotta love the Captain he stopped inside and asked us to all look up at the big crack in the rock and then said that it was a fauly line and one day the whole thing would come crashing down!!!

On the way back we stopped off at one of the Islands which I'm sorry to say I felt was the first real tourist trap I have been in since I got here.  We were told that a guided tour of the Island was optional, what they should have siad was you can pay extra to do the guided walk or you can sit in the restaurant/cafe and eat and drink their over inflated food and drink ($8 for a sandwich and a cup of tea, that's about 4 GBpounds)

Back in Paihia I had to quickly say goodbye to Rachel and run to get my bus back ... well not before I got on the wrong bus, lets just say it was an easy mistake to make.  We headed out and the weather started to deteriorate and it pretty much rained all the way back.  We stopped again at Whangerei Falls as some people on the bus hadn't seen them and then we stopped off at a place called Longs Bay which was billed as the best beach you have ever seen ... I'm thinnking our driver needs to get out of New Zealand ... it was a nice beach but I have seen much more spectacular.

Arrived back into Auckland just after 6pm and I headed over to Mission Bay to catch up with the other Pome Helen's, Becky's housemates.

Sunday Helen S and I headed over to Devonport for a pottle round the shops, lunch and the a walk New Zealand stylie (that's code for a drive) to Northhead which gives great views of Mission Bay, Auckland and over to Rangitoto (inactive volcano which you can see form Jeanne and Howard's place as well) and up to Whangaparaoa and beyond.

On Wednesday I went into town to catch up with Anna and Mandy who I met on the Stray tour and went for a lovely dinner in Ponsonby and the following day I finally got up the Sky Tower which was great such a lovely clear day and the views over Auckland were great I had a cuppa and a slice of cake whilst watching a few people throw themselves off the tower and then I met Sarah and Amy for a slightly boozy lunch.

So my last week in New Zealand has arrived can you believe it, I know I can't where is the time going.  I'm back staying with the lovely Jeanne and Howard and catching up with everyone before I fly to Melbourne, Australia on 3rd February.

I have finalised pretty much the rest of my trip now so here is the update on my itinerary for thsoe of you that are interested ;-)

3rd Feb - Fly into Melbourne
2nd April - Fly to Anguilla
7th May - Fly to Melbourne
10th May - Fly to Singapore
12th May - Fly to China - I will probably be on my knees with jet lag by this time
2nd June - Fly to Singaport
3rd June - Fly to South Africa
31st July - Fly back to the UK - this may change so don't start booking me in for things just yet ;-)

So all for now folks next update will be from Oz.

Take care, love to you all
Hx