http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand , North Island , Bay of Islands en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:33:32 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:33:32 +0000 Hi everyone. Thanks to everyone who has followed our adventures. This is just to let you know we are back in the water after 9 months yes . . . 9 months in the boat yard in Whangarei. The boat is looking great and the Captain is smiling again. We will start working on the blog and fill you in on our shore side adventures over the next few weeks. In the meantime happy New Year we look f http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/blog-464445.html Yo yo yoWell it's Christmas Eve afternoon and I've miraculously not started drinking yet so I thought I'd take the chance to use my sobriety to do some typing...I've made it up north to Paihia and it's really beautiful here. I know you guys are having loads of snow and miserableness but there isn't a cloud in the sky here and I just chilled out down the beach with my book and having a paddle. Oh http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-462380.html On Monday 30th we travelled to Paihia and booked into the Bay Sands motel for just one night. We thought about staying two nights but the traffic was so noisy at night we settled for just the one We walked the beaches and generally had a very lazy day The weather was quite good although not very sunny. The threatened rain did not eventuate fortunately. We watched the activities on the beach fro http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-457557.html Hey first I appologise for the awful wave at the end of the video awful Anyway this is where I'm living for the next few months hopefully. It's a small town called Russell in the north of NZ a few hundered km north of Auckland. Not got a massive population but once the summer hits there will be a big boom. I decided to take the job at the Thai restaurant I feel like for the last few week http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Russell/blog-456395.html Hey So we took our first Kiwi Experience bus yesterday Thursday. Had to be up really early to get the bus at 7 so pretty much slept on the bus all the way up because Amie and myself had been to see the preview of New Moon at midnight so missed a lot of the beautiful countryside but it's cool cause this was just a straight up bus not really stopping off to see anything anyway because they wan http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-454538.html So Irsquove been really bad at writing in my blog. Itrsquos been a month since I last wrote anything down so Irsquoll try and recap what Irsquove done in the past month. So on the day of the last entry back on Thursday October 15th it turned out to be a really nice afternoon weatherwise. So my roommate and I had decided to take a hike over to the nearby waterfall. It took up abou http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-454221.html Today was more relaxing than my last 3 days in Auckland. Woke up at 6am to catch the 750 am bus to Paihia in the Bay of Islands on the northern end of North Island. Auckland is in the Center of North Island. I used Stray bus to get to Paihia. Along the way we hugged a very large Kauri tree for good luck passed ldquostrawberryrdquo sheep and photographed a tree house caf. Once we arrived http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-453812.html Russell in the Bay Of Islands is now a nice little town but at the turn of the 19th century it was a shore station for whalers. Whaling was a greasy smelly and dangerous occupation and when members of the crew got to shore they liked to drink fight and generally let off steam so Russell or Kororareka as it was known then gained a reputation as the Hellhole of the Pacific.Manganui lay further http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Russell/blog-451581.html The search for a real latte ended in failure. But the day was not ruined. By late afternoon I reached a stunning DoC campground at a place called Mimiwhangata. The last few kilometres were along a gravel road with a steep climb and final descent. Best Kept Secret Mimiwhangata has to be one of the best kept secrets. It's a beautiful sheltered spot with bush and farmland behind it. The camp http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Russell/blog-450825.html One more cup of coffee for the roadOne more cup of coffee 'fore I goTo the valley below Bob DylanIt was a perfect morning and I was in the perfect mood to enjoy it. The sun was shining but the day was still cool and with no overnight dew my tent was dry when I packed it up. I was fed and watered and the road lay before me full of promise. What more could a person want Coffee Even before I' http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Russell/blog-450789.html This morning we were all set to go. I think I forgot to mention that Charmaine kindly made us sandwiches and we sorted out some little bits to eat for the whole day out at sea.We set off at 9.30 and by about 10am we encountered somethinghellipAn orca whale. Infact it was a whole group of them there must have been 10. Now the guy that was the captain had been doing it 26years and he said he had http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/blog-450769.html Today after having a mammoth 12 hour sleep we wanted to do something todayhellipsomethinghelliplike an activity or just something so we arenrsquot wasting the day. We got up around 11ish and went to make some breakfast. We spoke on skype and then decided to walk to Paihiarsquos little town to book a trip. We decided that instead of just going to dolphins and doing the half day trip for 89 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-450765.html This morning we set off early 7.20 we were picked up by the bus to be precise. The kiwi experience which we are just starting is a bus pass which we can travel down the country on we hop on and off when and where we like as long as we go south. Except this part as its an extension so we are allowed to travel up to the bay of islands then travel back down to Auckland. The bus journey took about http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/blog-450326.html Endnu en uge er gaaet og noejs tiden gaar staerkt 2. uge i Paihia var ugen hvor vi havde de sidste engelsktimer dykning blev afsluttet og vi var paa heldagstur til det nordligste af New Zealand Mandag var vi til engelsk om morgenen og aftenen stod paa dykkerlaesning hele dagen. Saa vi laa bare inde i faellesstuen og laeste. Kedeligt KedeligtTirsdag stod den paa dykkertest efter skolen. Det va http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-449847.html ca y est apres cette semaine de dingue au States et un vol de 13h au dessus du pacifique nous sommes finalement arrive en NouvelleZelande...Pays longuement attendu mais malheureusement l'acceuil de la meteo ne fut pas a la hauteur de nos attentes et la pluie nous attendait a la sortie de l'aeroport.Nous avons attendu en vain pendant trois jours que le soleil fasse sont apparition dans un petit http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Russell/blog-448791.html So second week and so far very nice Mandag skulle vi paa kajaktur hvor vi laerte lidt maoriord og om flora og fauna. Specielt nogle traer som jeg self har glemt navnet paa P Tilsidst saa vi et lille vandfald meget flot.. Lidt som et mini Niagra Falls. Bagefter tog jeg og Louise ud for at finde et Maoritreatyplace... Men men men vi kunne self ikke finde det saa efter at have taaget rundt n http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-448056.html Hey alle sammen Her er min foerste blog fra New Zealand og har vaeret her allerede en uge Tiden gaar staerkt hernede.. 8Vi ankom til Auckland Onsdag nat og blev tjekket ind paa et backpacker hostel ACB midt i byen hvilket naesten var en oplevelse i sig selv. Det var en lidt haard og lang tur med en masse ventetid og masser af nye mennesker.. uhh.. Saa var ret traet da vi kom frem paa trods a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-446224.html Auckland Sept 1 Sept 4Bay of Islands Sept 5 Sept 13Jumping out of a plane at 12000ft is probably one of the most terrifiyng things we have ever done. Actually it is the most terrifying thing we have ever done. You may be wondering how Simon who is afraid of heights managed to do this extraordinary feat. The fact is he didn't really have a choice. Within 15 minutes of inquiring about the p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-442828.html Friday September 25thOur day started out with us wondering what vehicle to buy. We're leaning towards a van but also looked at a few 4x4's and caravans. Mel reminded us that we were getting ahead of ourselves we'd need visas if we wanted to stay another three months. We didn't think we'd need to rush but when Talita phoned immigration they said they'd need 30 days to process our application. O http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-440888.html Today the banter started with the early rise. The last hour of last night was debating how early wersquod leave. Uncle Donald wanted 0500 as apparently unbeknown to me he has a habit of waking about 0400 even at weekends. Aunt Yvonne and Claire reckoned nearer 9 I opted for a general stance of the later the better. I surprised all being ready at 8am and luckily the bus was rolling out nor http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Russell/blog-439983.html