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14th Jan
Today we left Auckland early and got on our first 'Magic Bus' to take us up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Had a nice driver called Steve who acts as a kind of tour guide as you go - he was funny as he had a habit of saying 'sweet as' at the end of every sentence - something we've picked up now in our attempt at New Zealandish speak! Bit of a bumpy journey up and down hills and windy roads but we arrived in Paihia about lunchtime (after a brief tea stop at Sheepworld! hehe!). Found our hostel which was pretty nice - 2 minutes from the beach and not far to the town. Spent the afternoon having a look around the town and walked along the beach which had a really nice view out to the Bay of Islands (the sea was a bit colder than Fiji though!). In the evening we went to a Maori culture show at Waitangi which involved lots of singing and dancing telling the story of how the Maoris settled in New Zealand. It was really good, well worth seeing (we got a discount being with Magic too which was nice!) and we learnt something!
The next day we walked to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the Maori / European treaty was signed. Took a picnic to eat in the park in the sun and then spent the afternoon looking around - was all quite interesting. Had a walk along the beach and got sunburnt! Spent the evening at the hostel and were adventurous in cooking our own gourmet dinner - pasta!
16th Jan
Today we went on our day trip to Cape Reinga (the top of the top of New Zealand! had an early start and stopped at several places on the way. Drove up very windy hilly roads - not good if you get travel sick! - but the scenery was lovely. We also drove along '90 Mile beach' (which isnt actually 90 miles! its 60!) on the coach - its a public highway - and got hit by a wave- bit scary! Did sand boarding down some huge sand dunes which was really fun but you could only do it about once as it was such hard work climbing up! especially as it was really hot! i managed to not fall off though which i was quite proud of as so many people did but i was finding sand in my pockets for days afterwards! When we got to Cape Reinga itself we could see where the pacific ocean and tasman sea meet. Then on our way back to Paihia we had a few beach stops for a swim (or paddle!) before braving more windy roads! Got back and collapsed after a long day!
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