Bay of Islands Road Trip

Day1:

I’m sat in a restaurant with a cup of tea, looking out of the window on what can only be described as a scene fit for a postcard. The setting sun is reflecting off the aquamarine ocean which contrasts perfectly with the lush greenery on the tiny islands in the bay. There are fishing and sailing boats moored close to the islands, which were probably formed by volcanic activity donkeys ago, while the gulls fly overhead.

I’m in Paihia, a small village in the Northland of Aotearoa and the gateway to the Bay of Islands. This is road trip number 2 and I have a similar car to before – the trusty Nissan Sunny. It does the job, I got up here in 3 hours 20 minutes from Auckland, and that includes getting lost! All on half a tank of petrol too, it’s pretty economical that car even if it is ugly and older than most grandparents.

The drive up North was prettier than the drive down to Rotorua; I kept veering off the road because I was distracted by the beautiful scenery. I know, I know, eyes on the road. I’m more than thankful that its fair to say there are more sheep on New Zealand’s roads than there are cars, so it’s not as disastrous a situation as it would be in somewhere like London (but then you wouldn’t be driving off the side of the road!).

I’ve spent the afternoon walking the streets of Paihia – all 3 of them! There are various little restaurants and takeaways and fancy hotels, the likes I haven’t seen since the Sunshine Coast. There’s also a caravan parking lot where 8 bucks gets you 48 hours of parking. My bed for the night is less than a block from the sea! I’m hoping I’ll be up for sunrise in the morning – the camera’s charged and ready to go/

Tomorrow will be a fun-on day so a good sleep is needed for tonight. The past 2 nights I really haven’t slept much. On Saturday I met yet another Canadian, this one called Spencer. He reminds me a lot of my friend Tom on the Sunny Coast. Anyway, we decided to go out and see what nightlife Auckland had to offer. A short-lived trip to Globe Bar, where Helen and I went on my first night, with the ever popular stripper poles, we tried to find somewhere else. Walking around Queen Street and the Harbour I figured the only thing Auckland was good at producing at night is drunk, lairy kiwis.

We cut our losses and decided to head back to the hostel for coffee and grapes. Sat on the sofas we got chatting to 2 German siblings – Nora and Max – who were cool and loved their city (berlin for those of you who were interested). We chatted for ages, and then figured burgers from “The White Lady” (an old school burger van on the road next to the hostel) were a good idea. Armed with burgers and chips at 3am, tropic thunder was next on the agenda. Needless to say, most fell asleep on the couches.

The following night I was talking to Nora on the rooftop with a group of Argentinians (Maria, Josephina y Frede) and Brazilians (Rael, Louis and Rodrigo). We went down to the bar for a few drinks, 3 English (me, a guy called Rich and Spencer’s mate Barney) and the 3 Argentinians, the 2 German and the Canadian. It was most definitely a multicultural table!! We decided that we were too cold to keep sitting outside (and some comments may have been made about a race who were very plentiful in populating the area of Auckland we were staying – we decided to leave before anyone took offense!), and we were also too poor to keep drinking in the bar. The hostel it was for cups of tea – we spent the rest of the evening back on the roof (so much for staying warm) and proceeded to teach each other little idioms from our languages. The Mitsubishi Pajero means wanker in Spanish so they had to rename the car in Spanish speaking countries!! Much banter occurred, including teasing Louis that he was gay (he’s not, and like most Brazilians very proud = being gay is pretty offensive for the majority of these guys), it provided a great source of amusement for us!!

Day 2

I woke up at half 6 in the morning, having just missed the sunrise. After rushing around getting dressed and sorting out the car parking for the day I made my way down to the pick-up for the Dune Rider trip. We went round picking up everyone else, and got settled on the coach. It was a coach interior set on pretty much a lorry. Pretty cool, and pretty comfortable, apart from the elderly English couple sat behind me who spent the entire trip bickering and complaining. I had offered to swap seats with them as I knew they were in an uncomfortable place on the bus, but they declined. I figured I’d done all I could to help, so just tried to ignore them for the rest of the day!

Our first stop was a cup of tea and some brekkie in a cute little bay about an hour’s drive away from Paihia. It was yet again stunning scenery and it gave us a chance to chat to some people other than the ones we were sat near. I got chatting to 2 Canadian girls travelling together, who seemed friendly enough so we hung out for most of the day. The majority of the bus was elderly, and a small percentage of travellers. Most people I spoke to were pretty interesting.

Next was the drive along 90 mile beach. It was something to drive this big bus off-road along the beach. Out of one window you could see the waves gently lapping the sand, and out the other you could see the sand dunes with the pine tree forest in the background. As we drove we saw people fishing and attempting to surf, as well as fellow drivers. It was a good 75km we did along 90 mile beach as the beach itself is not 90 miles!  It got its name from Captain Cook’s description of the Northern Cape saying it was a “90 mile wilderness coast” or something to that effect.

We stopped to stretch our legs and have a run around on the beach. At this point the sand dunes had grown massively to the stage where they wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Sahara. Back on the coach and our driver, Paul, drove us upstream to the foot of one of the larger sand dunes. We traipsed out the bus, and took a boogie board each and started to climb, and climb and climb. Still climbing…it’s a LONG way up a very steep hill and your legs really start to hurt. Even the fittest among us were complaining about the climb. The view from the top of the dune was amazing – beautiful still bay with the rugged hillside climbing out the ocean, and the little islands with their trees blowing in the light breeze. Enough of the view.

AAAHHHHHH…I realised I should shut my mouth so the screaming stopped. I figured a mouthful of sand wouldn’t be that tasty so the mouth remained closed. I had launched off the top of the dune, on my tummy, and slid pretty darn fast down the very tall hill. There was a stream of water at the bottom (the same one we’d driven up in the bus, and I didn’t fancy getting wet), and I skimmed right over it and came to a stop in front of the bus. Exhilarated, I climbed back up the dune (doubly painful the second time round, although you’re expecting it) and went down again. This time tho, I let the brakes off more (your feet are the brakes, a good way to exfoliate them!!) and just flew down.

The prospect of another climb up was too horrible to even consider so I took some photos to pass the time. We were soon back on the bus and driving to Cape Reinga. Cape Reinga is B-E-A-Utiful, it’s where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, and also in Maori culture where their spirits depart this world at the spirit tree. This tree is growing out of the side of a barren rock, protruding out into the tempestuous ocean. When I was there, the water was very calm with barely a ripple on the surface, but you could still see the mixing of the waters. It’s a very powerful place. The thing which disappointed me was how commercialised and touristy it all felt. There was a gravel footpath that wound through the hills, letting you descend the 200m from the car park to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is iconic and quite pretty in its own right. We spent an hour absorbing all this before trudging back to the coach and driving to a beach for lunch.

The beach was possibly the nicest I have seen in New Zealand, it is comparable to some of the Aussie beaches so I felt slightly more at home. A quick lunch – and those mad enough went for a quick swim, but the water was far too cold in my opinion – and we were back on the road. Next destination was the Gumdigger farm. The northland of NZ is famous for its Kauri trees and the gum (amber) that they produce. Before WW1 it was a profitable business, digging up the buried Kauri forests and farming the gum to be used worldwide. Many tens of thousands of years ago, a tsunami hit New Zealand, burying a whole Kauri forest. The gumdiggers then had to dig through the sandstone and soil and peat bogs to uncover the trees. The wood is perfectly preserved, thanks to the peat. It was highly interesting having a tour round this place – seeing the original excavation holes as well as a few newer ones in a forest of tea trees. We also got to see a tree trunk that was over 45,000 years old, as well as a fly that was preserved from the Jurassic era. Pretty interesting stuff.

However, time was pressing – we had to clean the bus after our jaunt on the beach earlier. I say we clean, our driver had to wash it and we got to look round a kauri shop. Kauri trees can get up to 45m in diameter for their trunks, and the wood is now very valuable. In this shop, they had hollowed out a Kauri trunk and made a staircase in the trunk. Pretty unique and cool to walk up a tree trunk. There was nothing cheap in that shop. They sold a Kauri bench for NZ$55,000!!! That’s a bit steep for my price tag.

Next stop, and our final one, was the Monganowi Fish n Chip shop (I think that’s how you spell it!). It has won many awards for the best fish and chips in New Zealand, it was a pretty location – jutting out into the bay as the sun was setting, but the food wasn’t spectacular. England definitely does the better fish n chips. It was getting dark, and we’d been away for 11 and a half hours by this point. We got dropped back at our accommodation (me at the car park!) and I was exhausted. Curled up in bed (the backseat) I read my book before falling asleep while reading it!

Day 3:

I woke up bright and early, and headed to the Waitangi treaty grounds when it opened. I was very, very disappointed with them. I thought it was a major con to get money out of people. Very extortionately priced (entry, without any tours or anything just wandering around the grounds, was $25) and very touristy. Although the place is highly regarded and important in Kiwi culture, I just felt it had lost anything special it had once held. However, it was cool to see the British colony house, the Waitangi welcome house or whatever it’s called – the meeting house, that’s it! And the old canoes the Maori travelled to the location to sign the treaty.

I think I’m starting to have enough culture – I’m looking forward to lying on a beach and doing nothing when I get to LA!!!! Talking of that, I must check my flights and get ready to leave NZ. For now,

Peace and love

Xx

I spent the rest of my time in Auckland chilling out with the Argentinians and Brazilians – they’re really cool people and have inspired me to travel to South America for a decent period of time. Ideally my next trip will encompass middle and south America…we’ll see hey!!!!