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Published: March 25th 2008
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We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on the 6th March at 6am. Having left LA on the 4th March we lost a full day due to the length of the flight and massive time difference. We were pretty grumpy due to the loss of our Thursday, the jet lag and the collosal lack of nicotine.
We were more excited than we had been about LA, however. We had both been there before and had spent a pretty dazey first couple of days adjusting to the time difference. This sense was then hightened when we finally came to our wits and went out drinking with a pair of Australians that we met at the hostel and spent the following two days in a daze due to our hangovers. The night in question was pretty hilarious though, spent in a Rocker Bar on Sunset Strip where everyone went mental about our British accents (one person who had been passing us at the bar actually stopped on hearing us, asking 'Did I hear British?'). Everyone fell in love with Jonny Troll (and people have continued to do so since). At the end of the night we stumbled to a dingy all night pizza place
Photo 8
The beach in Paihia. Just two minutes from our hostel. around the corner from our hostel for munchies. Shae (the Australian with us who happened to be on crutches due to a skateboarding accident) went to the toilet and never came back. We then spent about two hours looking for him in the alleyway outside the pizza place, even questioning a bum who was rummaging inside a massive rubbish bin. It turned out he had locked himself in the toilet and passed out... In a sober state, perhaps, we might have looked in the toilet first, seeing as that's where he'd said he was going. Ho hum... The funniest thing about this pair is that Dijon is the exact character replica of Jay (of Jay and Silent Bob fame). We then took to calling them Jay and Silent foot.
When we first left home and for those first few days we were quite confused. We felt like we had made ourselves into these highly organised people (which is so far from our natural inclinations) during the seven plus months we used to actually arrange this trip and accumulate the capital to fund it. It was really weird to just relax and not have to worry about getting up early every
day and being careful not to drink too much on a 'school night' etc.
It was when we arrived in New Zealand that we we're finally able to relax. As soon as we arrived at our hostel it hit us that we were on the other side of the world and that we alone had got us there.
The morning after we arrived in Auckland we picked up our first Kiwi Experience bus and headed up to Paihia in The Bay of Islands. We spent the entire 2-3 hour trip just gawping while gazing out of the window. The very reason we wanted to see New Zealand was due to everyone else's accounts and picturess of how beautiful it is. But no amount of photographs or other people's descriptions can really do justice to just how breathtakingly stunning and diverse the country is. The one thing we have noted most about it is that although the terrain and scenery is so varied it's beauty and untouched appearance is just completely consistent. I can honestly say that within two weeks of travelling the length of New Zealand I have not seen a single place that has been lacking in outstanding aesthetics.
Even the cities are riddled with luscious greenery, with nature sprouting out of every avenue available. The Kiwis love their country (too right, too) and they look after it with that in mind. There is never any litter and there are cigarette bins wherever you go (yes, they are used!). Even the toilets have two buttons on them (one for a lighter flush, after a number one, and the heavier flush, for number twos) in order to conserve water.
When we actually arrived in Paihia the weather was amazing, with bright hot sun and a gorgeous blue sky skattered with fluffy white clouds (This sky is another seemingly ever present highlight to New Zealand, so far).
We checked into our hostel and went straight down to beach where we stupidly got burnt. We hadn't taken into consideration the thinness of the Ozone layer here so thought our medditerranean skin would be fine!
On the second day we paid for a speed boat trip around the cluster of Islands which are almost completely untouched. We travelled through the hole in the rock where we saw the local fishermen catching a collection of absolutely massive fish.
The speedboat dropped us off at
the island Urupukapuka (yes, that's it actual name). It is the only island that they have opened up to the public so as to keep the rest as beautiful and untouched as they have always been. It was like paradise, so quiet with white sands and clear blue waters. We spent an extremely relaxed few hours lying out in the sun and swam out to a deserted sandy cove where Laura and I swung on a swing, climbed treees and drew lude pictures in the sand.
Unfortuntely we became less relaxed when we ended up missing our boat back to mainland due to a breakdown in communication. As we were supposed to be catching a bus back to Auckland half an hour later we ended up missing this as well. When we were finally picked up we went to complain to the tour operator, worried that it would throw our entire trip off as we are trying to fast track our way around the whole of New Zealand in three weeks. The Tour Operator could not be more apologetic and ended up giving us a free trip to swim with the dolphins for the next day. Score!
The following day
we got up stupidly early and mounted the boat. We spent two hours crusing quite far out into the Pacific trying to find these dolphins. When we eventually found them all of the waiting was forgotten about. There were hundreds of what they call Common Dolphins swimming around the front of the boat. Six of us were allowed to lie across the nose of the boat and hang our heads out. This was an amazing experience as the dolphins were inches away from our faces and they were so playful. We weren't actually able to swim with them as there were infant dolphins there and the New Zealand law doesn't permit you to swim with those. Unfortunately they are speedy little buggers and so hard to photograph. The pictures don't really do justice to what we actually saw but have a look anyway!
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