Auckland and the Northland

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After a good couple of recovery days in Auckland with Laura's fantastic family (who spoiled us rotten!), we headed up to the Bay of Islands and the far north to complete the final part of our NZ trip.

We headed to Paihia, stopping along the way to see the giant Kauri trees (which were more impressive than the ones in SW Oz!), and to watch possibly the funniest (in an immature way) 10 minute video ever about Opo, the gay dolphin. It was made in the 1950s and is a victim of the English language changing over the past few decades ('this gay dolphin can prove to be a slippery mount' etc). A couple of other photo stops broke up the journey nicely and we hit the hay early as we were heading to the very top of NZ the next day.

Our bus trip the next day took us through some beautiful scenery, including more magnificent Kauri forests and 90 Mile Beach, which the bus actually drives along whilst the tide is out. At the north end of the beach are some enormous sand dunes where everyone (bar those with broken ankles) could try a bit of sandboarding! Laura had a great time but ate more sand than she really intended to! From here it was a short trip to Cape Reinga, the most northerly part of NZ, and sacred to the Maori people who believe that a persons spirit departs from here when they die. The view was beautiful from here and we saw our second example of oceans colliding, which is quietly quite impressive! On the way back to Paihia, we stopped for the best fish and chips in the world, made even better by the fact that they only cost $5! Just delicious.

And we head back to Auckland tomorrow, for our final couple of days in NZ before beginning the final legs of our journey in Fiji and the Cook Islands. So this might be the last entry for a while if we decide to beach bum it for the next 3 and 1/2 weeks!

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Photos

Bay of Islands
Giant Kauri tree - Tane Mahuta, which means the God of the Forest

Bay of Islands
Driving up 90 mile beach.

Bay of Islands
Sandboarding! No major injuries, but major amounts of sand still being found.

Cape Reinga
Tasman Sea to the left, colliding with Pacific Ocean to the right.

Cape Reinga
The lighthouse, complete with usual 'ooh, look how far we are from home' type sign.

Comments

[jenny]

I had those fish n chips!!!! So lovely that I also had to get some fresh prawns and crab sticks! Cant believe you're back in 3.5weeks. We'll get the kettle boiling! x