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Published: April 28th 2007
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Its been a so long since ive updated my blog that i am struggling to decide where to begin. I am in New Zealand now and have been for the past 2 months. I think the best place to start would be Auckland. Well its not the best place as Auckland is fairly boring so i dont have too many good things or exciting stories to write about. However, it is probably the most logical place to begin as it was here that my trip around the beautiful and often crazy New Zealand began...
So i started by trecking around the city of Auckland, up and down big steep hills that for a lazy young man such as myself were just a pain in the arse. After two days of this i quickly decided that i didnt like Auckland very much. There are nice areas such as the harbour and fancy wharf but in general, i found it to be much the same as any other city; a collection of average bars, fast-food restaurants and a coffee shop on every corner. So after getting trapped in the hostel bar for far too many days and nights, i took a
trip up to The Bay of Islands, otherwise know as Paihia and then to the most northern point of New Zealand, Cape Reinga.
This was the worst planned trip of my tour so far. I arrived in Paihia on Easter Weekend when everything was closed and the shops and bars were not allowed to sell alcohol. However this turned out to be a blessing as my body recieved a much needed detox after drinking away my boredom in Auckland for 5 nights! The trip itself is beautiful and it was a treat to see green grass after 3 months in a drought struck Australia with nothing but brown and orange to delight the eyes. It reminded me alot of an English summer and i felt at home immediately.
The journey north from Paihia, courtesy of the Magic Bus tour group included various stops in many cool places. First stop was at an ancient forest of the Wauri Trees. This was pretty cool as the trees that we saw were enormous. So big in fact that the Maori people worship the biggest tree of the forest which they call Tane Mahuta, "God of the forest". The mighty Tane Mahuta
is estimated to be over 2000 years old and is 13.8 meters in diameter. Thats big. And although im only a wee lad myself, the picture should show just how big 13.8 meters is.
From here we moved onto my favourite part of this trip, 'Opo the Gay Dolphin' who in the summer of 1955 arrived in Hokianga River for fun and stardom. We watched a video that was made in 1955 and was narrated by a very old-school English guy. The unintentionally comical voice-over created a Harry Enfield feel to the video as this old English fellow explained how the "Gay old Dolphin enjoyed frolicking with humans and being prodded with sticks!" Unfortunately Opo died in 1956 after washing up onto some rocks so we didnt get to prod him ourselves the video itself was well worth the stop and i'd recommend to anyone visiting Cape Reinga to take a look.
Having frolicked for a while, we got back on the bus and ventured further north to Cape Reinga, the most northern point of New Zealand and a natural watching post to witness the Tasman Sea colliding with the Pacific Ocean. This was beautiful and was an
ideal spot to get out and stretch the legs before sitting down to a picnic of cheese-slice sandwhich's (my staple diet whilst travelling on the bus!).
After finishing my nutritious and bloody tasty sandwhich we once again got on the bus and experienced a bit of sandboarding on route to the "90" mile beach which was to become our highway home. The sandboarding was not as good this time but there were some funny accidents to laugh at which made it worth while. As for the 90 mile beach, it is actually...you guessed it...64 miles long. There is a story behind the name of the 90 mile beach but it is not very exciting so i wont bother going into it. Basically, at first they thought it was 90 miles long but then decided they should measure it just to make sure. Now when deciding on the name, the first thing i'd have done would be to measure it but heyho. Anyway once they realised it was in fact 64 miles long, they decided to keep the 90 miles name as it sounded better and was much more lucrative for the tourism industry. And that is not me being
cynical, that is from the mouth of the Magic Bus driver...its all a bloody con! Anyway i said that i wouldnt get into it so i'll stop before i go on to demand a refund!
So that was it. The beach led the way back to Auckland with a few more interesting stops on the way. Upon arriving in Auckland, i was determined not to get sucked back into the bar of the Fat Camel hostel so i immediately booked my next trip, south to Rotorua where i was told, i could experience a traditional Mauri feast and watch a local tribe perform the Haka!! Bring on Rotorua!!
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