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NEW ZEALAND
28th October 2010 – Arrived in Auckland, New Zealand - 3 hour flight from Nadi, Fiji
Friday 29th October 2010 -
Well were here now in New Zealand!! Arrived yesterday afternoon and caught a bus straight from the airport to our first proper hostel – Nomads Fat Camel in down town Auckland.
We had a private room, with a shared bathroom and kitchen (were letting ourselves in slowly with the bigger shared dorms – lol ). All pretty basic and we got a free meal – spaghetti. It filled our stomachs so wasn’t too bad – suppose weve got to start getting used to accepting anything that’s free and comes our way !
We didn’t do much last night as we were picked up this morning pretty early (8:30am) for our first pick up on our Kiwi Experience bus tour that takes us round both islands. We had a pretty busy day today and all in all was really good!
First stop – Mercury Bay, Whitianga on the East side of New Zealand on the North Island.
• The bus works on a hop on – hop off basis – so you can get on and off whenever you want, and along the way the bus makes day stops at different locations which include activities if you want to join in (at a cost).
Today we were picked up from our hostel in the morning and headed towards Mercury Bay - our first stop was Mt Eden which wasn’t too far from where we were staying. Mount Eden is 1 of the 70 dormant volcanoes in Auckland and you can go right to the top of it and see 360 degree views of Auckland - It even had a massive crater. You couldn’t go down into the crater though as apparently the land is sacred.
Next stop was for lunch - in a town called “Thames” for a quick rest break and to have lunch (KFC- which tastes nothing like England KFC – Not too nice, bit tasteless and too much salt!!). Was our first bit of fast food since LA!!
Shortly after we all got back on the bus and made our way over the Kopu Ranges to Mercury Bay. Along the way the driver gave us commentary and talked to us about the area and activities we can do when we make our stops.
One of the activities me and Matt did was the Kayaking! They originally said it was $88 which we weren’t going to do at first, and then because they couldn’t get enough people they told us they would bring the price down to $50 – so then we thought that was a pretty good deal and went for it!
Sun was shining all day and it was pretty hot, so we had great weather for kayaking, also a good opportunity to top up our tans!!
Kayaking was ummmmm. . . . . fun!?! Lol – The kayaks were 2 seater, so me and Matt both hopped in, Matt as captain at the back steering and then me at the front.
We thought it was going to be easy!! It was at first, but then we didn’t realise that the steering paddle at the back of the kayak wasn’t adjusted correctly so the kayak wasn’t going in the direction we wanted it to, so we kept getting frustrated at each other with me shouting “go left . . . . go right . . . . what are you doing??? . . . where are going????!!!!” ha,ha,ha!! In the end all we could do was laugh at how stupid we looked and everyone watching us!!! It was only like 15 -20 minutes later until one of the guides came over and realised why it wasn’t working!! Typical for us to get stuck with that kayak!!
It was a 3 hour trip which started on Hahei beach over to Cathedral Cove around the Coromandel Peninsual coast which is renowned for its secluded beaches and untouched native forest. We got to see some awesome scenery and even saw an eagle ray - We all thought it was a sting ray but apparently there is a difference!!! ha,ha
The places we kayaked round wer all protected so there was a lot of sea life below us, sting rays, snappers, and other big fish lol! We were invited to get out and swim, but the water was freezing!!!! Well after hearing what’s in the water – that’s was our excuse anyway!!
Half way through the trip we pulled up onto the Cathedral Cove for hot chocolate, latte’s, cappuccino’s, mochas etc... the guides had it all packed in their kayak and made it all on the beach!!
Oh and mom – just a bit of educational stuff for you read (I know you like) – the reason why Mercury Bay is called that is because in 1769 Captain James Cook anchored his ship there to observe the evening sky and he could see Mercury – so he came up with the name Mercury Bay. They told us so much more about the history of the places we went to but its way too much to remember!!
We arrived at our next hostel - YHA On The Beach Backpackers Lodge on Buffalo Beach Road, right on the beach front. Were here for 2 nights – sharing a 4 bed mixed dorm. Our first night we have the room to ourselves and then tomorrow were going to have some room mates.
Were sharing the kitchen and bathrooms with another group of 4 people sharing which have a room next to us – and their all girls!! So there’s 6 of us tonight and Matt is the only guy!! Lol Their all a really nice bunch though, a girl from Reading, a girl from Germany and 2 Sweedish girls!
Tomorrow they all leave and we get more new room mates!
Internet access is much better here so hopefully I can do more frequent blogs. We’re off to Rotorua tomorrow – Ive put this on our travel plan so you can follow us on our blog and know where we are at an exact date.
Cioa for now!!
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