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Published: November 27th 2006
Sunrise
KaikouraWell it was an early rise....5am to be precise....packed up my trusty car.....bumped into a few late night (early morning) drunken souls.... and said farwell to Christchurch. I watched the sunrise over the mountains at Kaikoura and then stopped to have breakfast at the seal colony.
Still recovering from the night before the night before (getting old you know!) I managed to have a wee nap at Picton before boarding the ferry. And who should I meet on the ferry....Nat and Paul! They seem to get everywhere! Anyway, I managed to tear them away from Knight Rider and we went out on the deck to watch the dolphins play in the wake.
Saying farwell again to Nat and Paul, I decided to keep going, driving through the dark up towards Tongariro national park where I ended up staying at an old school that had been converted into a hostel. A bit eerie as there was only me and a german family (a young lad and his parents). Did the obligatory banter then headed straight for bed ready for another early start.
So my road trip North continued stopping briefly at Ohakune for breakfast, Waitamo for lunch and a
Picton
Waiting for the ferry stretch of the legs and then on to the North Shore of Auckland.
With a brief couple of days to catch up with Becky and the boys (always a joy...lots of cuddles!) I then headed the two and a bit hours north to my new home town-to-be...Whangarei! That's Fon-ga-ray. So, I booked in to Bunkdown Backpackers for Easter Weekend and a chance to get to know this new town before starting work the next week.
Easter Friday was an amazingly sunny day...managed to do a bit of local sight-seeing but then spent the day with Dan (an English guy) and Maike (a German girl) just hanging out, chatting, learning the Poi and just enjoying the sunshine. That afternoon, Mike (Paul's brother) arrived...we relived the night of Paul's birthday and who was to blame for the Tequila before deciding on a night time walk to see the glow worms and trying to find a secluded, dark spot for Maike to light her fire Poi. Absolutely amazing- see the pics!
The next day Mike and I took a road trip upto the Bay of Islands....stopping at the world famous Kawakawa toilets....to take photos as well as use the ablutions.
Interesting little town but worth the stop to see the toilets!
At Pahia we decided to do the walk to the waterfall. Well, there we were taking a walk through the bush, over the boardwalk, through the mangroves and as we came to the waterfall we noticed a car park full of people. Feeling slightly cheated by the fact that you can "drive up" to the waterfall we turned back and walked the few kilometers back to our car! All I can say is that the walk by far outweighed the waterfall...not a soul around (that's cos they all drove...I'm not bitter!), the sun was shining and I got to learn even more about mangroves!
Before heading back to Whangarei we did a tiki tour around..... , then a brief stop at the toilets again! A good weekend ended with the usual too many drinks but some very good memories.
Having said farwell to Mike who was heading back to the UK and the others who were on the next leg of their adventure, I packed up and moved into the hospital accomodation....ready for my first day at work and life in Whangarei!
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