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It was an early start to being my Kiwi Experience trip (7am pick-up) up to Paihia at the Bay of Islands. The bay of Islands are a group of 144 undeveloped islands on New Zealand’s north shore. They are also the place of the first European settlers where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between the British and local Maori tribes. After arriving, Alex, Michelle (who I met on the bus) and myself went on a cruise around some of the islands and visited the ‘World Famous’ Hole in the Rock.
The next day we went on a day trip up to Cape Reinga. On the way we stopped off at a forest to see the massive Kauri trees and drove up 90 Mile Beach (it’s only 64 miles but it was decided 90 sounds better). At the top of the beach we went sand boarding which was so much fun. It was definitely worth carrying the boogie board up the 85m dune for the ride down and if you did a run and jump (which I did because I’m not a nana) you could pick up a lot of speed. Sadly I only managed to scale the dune twice, it was shockingly hard to climb and I don’t think my legs had fully recovered from my Auckland walk. Afterwards we stopped at a lovely beach for lunch before arriving at Cape Reinga. The Cape is the most tapu area in Maori culture as it is where it is believed the spirit transcends the land and passes to the other world. It is also where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea in a clash of waves.
On our way back to Paihia we stopped off for supposedly the best fish and chips in the world. Rubbish. Mary’s and Sunny’s are a lot nicer. After dinner we headed back to the hostel and had an early night because we were all shattered. The bus back to Auckland didn’t leave till 3pm the next day so we hit the beach beforehand.
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