Paihia, Bay of Islands: 8-12 September

And we are off! We were all tired and on the three and a half hour bus ride we all got some much needed rest. Luckily we all got our own rows so we had room to stretch and become as comfortable as we possible could on a coach bus!

When we got to Paihia it was night out so we had no clue what the area looked like. But we checked into our hotsel, the Mousetrap, and got settled. Then we walked right across the street to Salty Bar for some food and drinks. Nicki and Feli fell in love with the video jukebox! When you choose a song, on the TV's it plays the music video too. They couldn't stop picking songs.... :)

The next day it started out gloomy and some rain, of course. But that didn't stop us from exploring! We walked the beach to a place called Waitangi Bay, where the Waitangi Treaty Ground. This is where the first treaty was signed in NZ. Pretty historic place. The beach walk was very nice.

It was about a 20 minute walk to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds but once we got there the weather was beautiful! You have to watch yourself here with the sun because there is no ozone layer over NZ, so lots of sunscreen is essential. That being said, none of us put any on this day. Opps. Luckily we all had layers on so no one got too much sun. But the treaty grounds was a very cool place. Very nice and historical. I learned a lot about the Maori history and how NZ become a commonwealth.

The flag pole is where the treaty was signed

We walked around the grounds for a while and saw the house of James Busby; the writer of the treaty, saw Te Whare Runanga, a typical Maori meeting house; and two Maori war canoes.

After that we left the grounds and decided to go on a hike and go see the Haruru Falls. It was about a 6km walk one way from the treaty grounds. It was a great long hike and was a pretty easy, just long. The hike walked all the with the Waitangi River that leads to the ocean. Again, it looked like a forest but we saw some cool birds, spooky little swamp area, and Calla Lilies. Calla Lilies are everywhere around here! Really beautiful!

After around two hours of hiking we came to the falls! Since it has been raining all the time in the area the falls were at full force!

As you can see in the picture it was getting a bit dark so we decide to look at the local cartoon map that we got at the hostel, the same kind I looked at in Waiheke Island, for a road route back. Bad idea. The road that looked like a residential road turned out to be a highway. So we had to walk 6km back on the highway. And it got dark. And this is the dark dark with no street lights, no city lights, no lights at all dark dark. Luckily Bastion had a flashlight or "torch" as they call it here and we were able to see the cliffs on the side of us while we were walking and have the cars see us. Also this wasn't a straight highway, it was a curvy, hilly highway so there were plenty of blind sports for cars. After another long, scary, dark, fun, adventurous, walk we finally made it back to the town. Phew.

The next morning we were up and ready for a Dolphin/Whale Cruise! It was a beautiful day for a nice cruise in the ocean! In the first 30 minutes we saw large group of dolphins with babies! There were also a few penguins too!!! YAY!!! I finally got to see my beloved penguins!! They were small ones diving in and out of the water with the dolphins. So cool!

We also went to and through "The Hole in the Rock" which is an island off the coast, stopped at Otehei Bay for lunch, and cruised around and saw many small islands. And sad to say we did not see any whales. Still a great cruise though with great scenery!

After that we took the afternoon and relaxed, went to the grocery store, and made a full on spaghetti dinner complete with Skittles for desert! It was great to cook an Italian dinner for my three great friends or by this time we stared calling ourselves "the family." :P

Yum!

After dinner we met two nice people from the San Francisco and France and chatted the night away with them, we all learned and revealed a little too much about ourselves that night with a very fun game.

The next morning was an early morning as we were traveling to the northern most tip of NZ! It was a crappy day but full of activities!! We went to Manginangina Forest where they Maori got the huge trees to make their war canoes; Cape Reinga, the northern most part; did some sand dune surfing (in the rain); drove down 90 mile beach on the west coast; and went the an amazing fish and chips restaurant where they get the fish right off the boats because they are right next to the marina! 

The rain, wind, and fog can't stop us!

So much fun!!

The day was full of amazing activities! The night was our last night in Paihia so we made it a great one! 

Sunday, 12 September morning was again an early morning and we had to catch the naked bus by 7:30 am. We had a bus ride back to Auckland and then from Auckland we had a long bus ride to Rotorua where we were to start our first job! Nicki found a job for the four of us - painting at a hostel in exchange for accommodation! Yay! Free! Well for the most part... paint two days for a weeks worth of accommodation...not bad at all! So we were off to our next town and got ready for more memories and fun times! :)