http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand , North Island , Bay of Islands , Paihia en-us Fri, 11 Dec 09 20:49:41 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 09 20:49:41 +0000 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 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 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 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 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 Finally got a good sleep in. Vera and I headed over to the Waitangi treaty grounds after we made some breakfast. It's about 1.5 km's to walk there. At first you watch a video when you get there about the treaty. Basically the Maori people were the first people to be in New Zealand and then the english came and tried to take over. The Waitangi treaty is a treaty between the Maori and the english t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-436093.html Trina Ann and I walked over to the Haruru Falls trail. It was a really cool 5 Km trail through lots of forest and a bit of mangroves. The falls weren't that great but still neat to see. Trina and Ann had to get back to the hostel to catch their bus back to Auckland so we ended up having to call a taxi at the end of the hike instead of hiking back. Got the taxi to drop us off at the grocery store http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-435393.html We were up really early to catch our dunerider bus up to the north tip of New Zealand. We had about 15 people on tour 7 of us backpackers and the rest were older Australian couples so an interesting mix. Our first stop was on top of a hill with an amazing lookout over the ocean on one side and the bay on the other. We stopped for some breakfast and to get lunch in a place called Coopers Beach. O http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-435391.html Woke up extra early and packed up and had some breakfast before heading outside to wait for the Stray bus to pick me up. Ann canadian girl decided to come up north as well so we waited outside for the bust together and met Trina a girl from Singapore studying in Dunedin NZ. She was also headed up north so we all stuck together. Our tiny bus finally came to pick us up and there was only 5 of us http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-435286.html So having picked up my Starlet and Steve we headed north on the N1 towards the Bay of Islands on the North East coast. Thankfully they drive on the left hand side of the road so it was relatively easy for me however having spent 6 12 months of this year in right hand drive countries I have had to occasionally do a double check to make sure I am on the correct side of the road I have been before http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-428825.html Woke up this morning thinking what should I do. I went to Kerikeri and did some forest walking. I was walking for about half an hour and ended up to a beautiful men made balcony which had an amazing view to little islands. It was calm and peaceful looking at it. I am actually thinking about moving and living here. It such a beautiful nature never touched. Anyway Kerikeri has such a nice people http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-423624.html 15th May 2009We began touring New Zealand the way it is meant to be seen today after picking up the campervan. Equipped with a fan heater and a bed we left Auckland for the Bay of Islands. Elaine a little unsure of the roads navigated whilst Alex took the wheel. It took us around 4 hours to get there and after finding a campsite for the night and stocking up on food the day was pretty much http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-423383.html Before leaving Kawakawa we spent a good lunch just across the road from the Hundertwasser and the food were really delicious I mean It looked a lot like a coffee shop and It wasn't on my expectation that they'd serve foods that well. I couldn't say anything against the staff they accommodate their diners well and it seems they have loyal customers or perhaps they get used to tourist visiting the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-419026.html Hello again is the weather still nice over there We've ended up driving 4163 miles over a 1000 miles a week between and around Melbourne to Cairns settling into fine sunny dry weather by the second half of our journey and now via a 4hr flight have been put back right where we started or so it seems Auckland like Melbourne can't make up its mind between being sunny and overcast or wet http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-415966.html As part of my birthday celebrations we went up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands with very dear friends of ours.We had a very busy weekend and crammed in a lot of activities.Graham was very pleased that I had reached this very grand birthdate. To anyone who would listen he told them how old I was wasWe picked up Carrie and Trevor off the Waiheke Ferry at Downtown Auckland. We travelled up to Pu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-402122.html