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At 7:30am on a windy, damp, grey morning we boarded our first Kiwi Experience bus and started on our journey north up to Paihia and the Bay of Islands. This part of our trip around New Zealand was thrown in for 'free' when we booked our Kiwi Experience bus pass.
The Kiwi Experience is basically a bus company which travels around New Zealand, where you stop at designated places, which are on the specific pass you have bought. The pass we have is called the 'Funky Chicken' and travels around both the North and South Islands. Unlike the Greyhound in Australia, the bus driver can book or at least guarantee your first nights accommodation at the over night stops. It is like the Greyhound in the sense that it is a bus company (getting you around New Zealand) but it is also like a guided tour, with set routes to travel on, the driver's are also 'guides' with commentary on route and sight seeing 'stops' on route to the over night stop. I'm not sure if that makes much sense but I dont want to take up any more of this blog talking about a bus company...
We started to head north towards Paihia, making a stop for lunch on the way. During the journey you get the opportunity to book onto any activities you may like to do when you arrive. After reading up, one of the main attractions of going to Paihia and the Bay of Islands was getting out on the water and seeing some of the 144 islands by boat. Who were we to argue with this, so we signed up for a cruise of the Islands, with the incentive of seeing dolphins a bonus.
After arriving at our hostel the weather was no better, infact it had probably got worse as we headed further north. Now there were even stronger winds and heavier rain, maybe we should have bought full water proofs in Auckland. After checking in and having something to eat we noticed a break in the rain and decided to make the most of it and headed out for a stroll.
After battling the wind along the sea front we found what you would call the 'town centre' although pretty small it had a highstreet of sorts and this provided shelter from the strong wind. We followed a road and wondered down it until we came to a dead end and headed back to the hostel, not wanting to push our luck with the rain. No sooner had we got back to the hostel, the heavens opened again, phew. Therefore the rest of the afternoon was a bit of a non event.
That evening we had signed up to a BBQ dinner the hostel put on. Now we had a fair few of these in Australia and all you got was a couple of sausages and slice of bread, but this time round we had been promised, sauasages, salad, jacket potato, coleslaw, steak and bread, we couldn't resist.
There were around 50 people on our bus up to Paihia, all of whom were staying at the same hostel as us, therefore you can imagine the que for the BBQ was big. Myself and Belle decided to be patient and sit at the bar enjoying the free drink we got with the BBQ. It took about an hour for the que to subside enough for us to decide to join the back. During our time waiting we were chatting to the bar maid who insisted there would be enough food left over for us.
When we finally got the the BBQ this unfortunatly wasn't the case, they had run out of coleslaw, something we were both looking forward to. Slightly disappointed we headed back to our seats at the bar, where the bar maid asked us if they still had all the food, Belle told her of the lack of coleslaw. Now this wasn't really an issue but the bar maid almost took this very personally and felt so bad that she gave both of us a free drink to make up for it. This made the lack of coleslaw alot more bearable.
We had booked a total of three nights in Paihia and decided to do our island trip on our last day, meaning we had free time on our second day. Luckily for us the weather was nicer than the previous day and after doing some washing and some breakfast we decided to head out for a walk, this time we had planned where to go and followed one of the Paihia walks up to a viewpoint over looking the bay. It was about a half an hour walk to the view point and the exercise was welcome. The views at the top were not the 360 degree view which we had in Auckland but were nice none the less. Viewpoint walk done, we went to the supermarket so we could make some sadwhiches for our boat trip before heading back for dinner.
So it was our last full day in Paihia and we had reached the main event, our boat trip out into the bay itself. Obviously we could not see or visit all 144 of the islands so our captain stuck to a chosen 14. These inculded; Moturua Island, where the chairman of sky has a very nice house. The boat we were on also acted as the post service, dropping off several bits of post to the different islands, alot of which was collected by the island caretaker and their dogs (the dogs were just there, they didn't actually carry the post), which has got to be a very secluded life. On our way from one island to another the capatin got on the loud speaker and informed us he had located a pod of dolphins and we were going to have a look. He was not wrong, a pod of around 20 dolphins surrounded the boat, feeding, it was a great sight to see them so close up. The wildlife didn't end there as later on we saw a New Zealand fur seal, which was trying to catch some lunch. This attracted ganits, who were dive bombing the surface of the water also looking for something to eat.
After heading out to the 'Hole in the Rock', exactly what it sounds like, but very impressive. A large rock formation which stands tall out of the sea, with, as the name suggests, a huge hole in the middle of it. We also saw the "cheapest accommodation in New Zealand", a little cottage on a near by island, it would be brilliant to stay there, although the transfers may be a bit tricky. As we made our way back in to the shelter of the bay we stopped at Otehei Bay and had some lunch.
A relatively large island, with another secluded bay with beaches and hills to walk up. The bay almost had the feel of some of the beaches we had been to in Thailand with the clear water and sand, but the surrounding area of lush, green hills told a different story. After tucking into our packed lunch we went for a walk up one of the hills which gave us great views from the top, out to all angles of the bay.
It was soon time to head back towards dry land but before we did a few people on our boat gave 'boom netting' a go. This is where people sit or lay in a net hung off the side of the boat into the water, the boat then drives along pulling the net and the people with it. It did look quite fun, although we didn't have our swimming gear, plus, it would have been freezing! We were happy just to watch.
We landed on dry land about 4:30pm after a good day touring the islands, with some knowledge of the surroundings, Captain Cook, Mauri settlements, post delivered and wildlife seen, all in all a great trip.
In the evening we had a couple of drinks, again getting a freebie as the bar maid put lemonade in my pint by mistake but it was only a couple as we had to get up and leave the next morning.
Although having to check out at 10:00am the next morning our bus back to Auckland didn't leave until 2:45pm, which gave us near to four hours to do what we pleased with. The plan was to walk down to some waterfalls, stretch the legs, see some sights and be back in time for a quick bite to eat before boarding the bus. This did not go to plan, as again it rained solidly for the entire morning and afternoon until we had to leave.
We got back to Auckland that evening, having to spend another night there. It was fairly uneventful with the only bit of excitment (if you can call it that) was that the hostel had double booked our room an we effectively (through the manager) kicked a very nice Irish girl out of her room. She took it very well though and we were very apologetic about the situation, after all it wasn't our fault.
So that was that, Auckland to Paihia, Bay of Islands and then back to Auckland again. The bay of Islands was a very nice place and even better as the travel there and back was free, making it that little bit sweeter.
- comments
del at last somewhere it rains a lot. my kind of place that
lethal ...and free booze when there isn't any coleslaw could be mine! XXXXXX