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Published: January 5th 2009
The problem that I had with Auckland by the end of yesterday is that while it is the biggest town in New Zealand, nothing much seems to happen...
Overall though I've had a fab two days! Got up a bit too late on Saturday which meant that by the time I'd gotten downstairs fully dressed at 12.30 we had missed half of the day...not to worry though, because we were still both catching up with the crazay time warp that our bodies are being forced through so opted for a quiet day!
And what a day!!! We took a ferry out to Waiheke, a small island about 20 minutes off the coast and via a direct ferry to Auckland. The place was deserted, almost eerily so, which made it an amazing afternoon of trekking through the forest across the middle of the island to Onerau, the main village.
The forest was more like a jungle with all the sounds and fauna that we encountered, and when we emerged on the other side of the island, it was even more eerily quiet with a single empty road winding off down the hill and into the distance. We carried on
Auckland Bell Tower
With the wrong time...hmm...walking until we reached what would become our destination - THE LAZY LOUNGE. It was this excellent little hamlet that we'd stumbled upon and spent a good two hours playing pool and chilling, chatting to the owner and the locals - styled like a Hawaiian bar but with a distinct NZ flavour, it was a fab find!!
Next we wandered down to the beach and walked along the coast for a looong while, ending up sheltering in the caves as rain started lashing down all around us! Some cave dodging later we managed to get back into town (by which time the rain had worn off...typical!) and walked back along the forest path to our ferry. The day had raced by without us, it seemed, and I would happily have just stayed on the island. It was like a little touch of paradise...and a taster for what was to come today!
Sunday was a bit of a doss, in a good way though, and finishing a book in the process we just hung out and chilled in the hostel, went for a wander and did postcards and generally did nothing of merit! Shouldn't complain though...could be in work!!
The Bay
Looking from the Bay of Islands Today has been the best day of New Zealand so far, jumping on a bus at 7 to travel up to the Bay of Islands. It was exactly how I had imagined it would be - clear blue seas, cloudless skies, rolling beaches and green islands dotted around in the horizon. It was fab, and we opted to walk along the coastline once we'd checked in to our hostel, almost getting caught in the rising tide as we clambered over rocks.
Our hostel was excellent too - very homely and cool. Looking forward to a better nights sleep tonight than last night!
So overall, I think I found what I was looking for today!!
Apart from a burnt nose, of course...
LTYM
Peace out
xxx
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