Blogs from Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Kia Ora everyone! I've been in New Zealand for a week now and I've managed to squeeze quite a lot in. Unfortunately I don't have time to visit the South island, as I'm only here for 10 days in total, which is a shame but there's always next time! When I last blogged I was staying in a hostel dorm for four people, but I was all on my own for the first couple of days I was in there - it sounds like a good thing, but actually I was starting to get pretty bored. Auckland is not a super interesting city to wander around by yourself for days on end, and there's not all that much to do here either. Fortunately I had booked to go to a trip to the Waitomo glowworm caves ... read more

Easter weekend at the Bay Of Islands Easter is not only good for eating a lot of chocolate and hot cross buns, the best off it all are 4 days off work! So I packed my bags to have a wee holiday at the beautiful Bay of Islands. I went with the Nz backpacker bus "Stray" , because they offer a great short trip (Patch pass) to see the Northland in 4 days - perfect for a long weekend! So off we went in the little red bus from Auckland city to Paihia. We had a great stop at a huge Kauri tree on our way. I have seen many of those trees in NZ already but this was definitely the most impressive one. Our driver told us so many great stories about the region and ... read more

Tramping continues to be one of our favourite activities since it affords us an opportunity to experience great vistas and to get off the beaten track. The most challenging tramp we have done so far was the Kauaeranga Track located on the southern part of the Coromandel Peninsula, southeast of Auckland. The origins of this track go back to the 1860s when it was used to bring in supplies by pack horse to those logging large Kauri trees high up and deep in the bush. This tramp proved to be the longest in terms of time - about 8.5 hours - as well as the steepest. There were sections requiring ladders, clambering up and over boulders, and to reach the top of the pinnacles, pulling ourselves up by iron rungs embedded in the rock. The effort ... read more

My Piece of paradise, they say home is where the heart is, well mine is back in England, but im leaving a tiny piece here, we are coming back, and if it works we are coming to stay, Ta Ta for now Sam x... read more

We gingen vanuit KawaKawa naar Keri Keri. De namen van de stadjes hier zijn soms echt hilarisch! Keri Keri is het noordelijkste stadje van het Noordereiland. Vanaf daar begint de weg naar 90 miles beach (90 mijlen strand) Cape Reinga. We besloten Cape Reinga niet te doen omdat we kort in tijd waren. We hadden afgesproken om naar Leigh (Goat Island) te gaan een paar dagen later. We reden wat rond en voor dat ik het wist stond ik met Jan in de 'Living Nature' winkel. Jan had de vlag zien wapperen waar er op stond 'Living Nature, 100% natural skincare'. En inderdaad ik kreeg een zalfje. Dat merk bestaat al 35 jaar en wordt verdeeld over de ganse wereld met een zuster afdeling in Duitsland. De verkoopster ging iemand halen en 2 seconden later stonden ... read more

New Zealand – Cape Reinga and the Bay of Islands – Hitting the most northern part of NZ with a little bit of sand boarding and a chance to meet some very “special” locals. After a great time in Auckland it was time to head North, my bus arrived and was a beautiful, subtle shade of bright orange with a driver called Bear. I was hoping it was going to be a Bear Grills experience but as it turned out I think he got his name because he hated getting up off his arse! I guess he’s in the right job then. As we headed out to the Bay of Islands I started to get to know my fellow passengers and the group turned out to be a cool bunch so all was going well. The ... read more