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Thursday 27th
Well, a bit of a quieter week, nothing too mad to speak of. Friday we went from Rororua to Mount Maunganui, another nice beachside place, the hostel was good, free pizza and biscuits on arrival! Went for a wonder for a couple of hours, walked down the beach, and accross to this little island place, was going to walk up the mount to get better views but i somehow managed to take a chunk of skin off the side of my foot while slipping on a stone, so that was the end of that. Wasn't too bad, bit of savlon and a plaster did the trick.
Saturdays trip was Mount Maunganui to Whitianga on the Coromandal Peninsula, we stopped at the Hot Water Beach on the way, where you can did in the sand to make your own hot pool, but the tide was in so we couldn't, was a really pretty place, we also stopped at Cathedral Cove, had to walk 45 minutes on a coast path to get there but was worth it, such a pretty beach, could have easily spent a couple of hours there with my book, was really hot too. We arrived in Whitianga about 4pm, again went for a walk down the beach and around the town, not that there was anything there. The Hostal had amazing views, was right on the beach, even hada sea view from my room! New Zealand were playing Australia in the League world cup final that night, so the driver mentioned us all meeting in a bar to watch it, which we did, problem was we thought kick off was 7.30, it was, but in Australia, 9.30 here, so we were a bit early! Turned out okay as thy had a local band playing which were really good, so stayed and listened to them, didn't see the game as we left at 10, but NZ won.
Sunday was back to Auckland, arrived about midday, don't really like the place, it is pretty much 1 main street that you wonder up and down all day! Thought i should go up the sky tower, glad i did, even got a $10 discount with my YHA card, really good views accross the city, felt a little woozy at the hight, was glad when got down to ground level! Didn't do much for the rest of the day as it started raining, spent an hour looking round a book shop, that was about it.
Monday was an early start, bus picked up at 7.10 to go to Paihia, my supposed few days of rest on the beach, needless to say it was a horrible day, raining the whole way there. The Hostel here is really nice, its a 5 star one, thought i'd treat myself seeing as last few days, about 13 quid a night! Got a 4 bed room with ensuite, so good to have a proper bathroom for a change. We arrived about 2pm. Lucy, a girl from Cambridge, and i decided it would be a good idea to walk out to the Haruru Falls, a 5km walk each way, plus about 1km from where we were staying. At this point it was just light drizzle so we but on our coats and off we went. Was also really windy so got blown up the road more than walked. The actual path was sheltered by trees so was okay, although we think it was more than 5km as seemed to take ages to get there, and it wasn't even that an impressive waterfall! Time we got back to the road to the Hostel the rain was torrential, got absolutly downed, even my knickers were soaking wet! I couldn't beleive the amount of rain that was coming down. My shoes have taken nearly 4 days to dry out!
After we had changed we went to the bar which is attached to the hostel as we had meal deal tickets, pizza and a glass of wine for $12, also met 3 other girls from the bus, ended up making a bit of an evening of it, all drinks were 2 for 1 which was bad as they are cheap anyway. I won the raffle which meant i had to sit on stage while the bar man sang to me, to get a free cocktail, i would have rather forgone the drink but everyone made me do it, so embarrising! Had a really good night and was in bed by 10.45.
Tuesday was the day trip to Cape Reinga, alarm went of at 6 again, because during the day the bus goes on roads that are not finished, and drives along a beach, it is a special bus, built on a lorry chasis which extra light suspension, so when on the road it was swaying side to side a lot, not the best as i was feeling a little worse for wear! Managed to have a bit of a nap then we stopped at a bakery were i had a cheese toastie and bit of carrot cake, felt human again after that. (i must say my carrot cake is better!) We were really lucky with the weather, such a contrast in days, really warm, we did think about postponing the trip by a day as the forecast said that the storm was continuing, but glad we didn't, the weather changes here quicker than home! Visited the Lighthouse at Cape Reinga and took some cool photos, we stopped next at some sand dunes, where we walked up and came down hanging onto bodyboards - it's called sandboarding, looked really scary, wasn't sure i could do it, but thought it was the quickest way down the dune, so down i went, only did it the once, lots of people did it loads of times. Our drive back was quicker as it was down the 90 mile beach, which is actually 60 miles, was a beautiful beach, it is actually classed as a road! Got back to Paihia just gone 6, treated myself to fish and chips for tea.
Yesterday weather was still good, so in the morning i got the passenger ferry over to Russell, the original capital of New Zealand, was really pretty, walked up to the flagstaff researve, visited the oldest church in New Zealand and spent an hour on the beach reading my book. Could feel myself burning so made way back to Hostel, got back about 3pm. Did nothing for the rest of the day, spent the afternoon and most of the evening sitting on the balcany reading my book and chatting to Lucy. Another girl from our bus did the trip we did on Tuesday today, she said it was that foggy they couldn't see the lighthouse, so glad i didn't change mine.
Today having another lazy day, did all my washing this morning, they have clothes horses so you can actually put your clothes out to dry rather than having to use the dryer which is great. Went for a walk up to the lookout, where funnily enough you can look out over the rest of the islands, it was beautiful, such a clear day. My original plan was to get a bus back to Auckland tomorrow then have a night in Auckland before flying on Saturday. I had to again pay for a bus as ours wasn't going tomorrow. I have now cancelled that bus and have decided to stay here another night as it is so nice, and Auckland is a bit of a dump! I still have to pay for a bus as ours doesn't get into Auckland on Sat until 4pm, my flight leaves at 7.15, so i thought that was cutting it a bit fine! The bus i have rebooked is cheaper than the first one which will help towards my extra night here!
Thats all for now, off to sit in the sun again, next time i write will probably be at the airport, i hope America is as good as here, as at the moment i don't want to leave!
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