Auckland/Paihia 14-19

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On the way to Auckland we stopped off at Matamata where Hobbiton is. We didn't see the set as that costs money and takes too long but we got a picture of the sign and a statue of Gollum. We only stayedin Auckland for one night before heading to Paihia (bay of islands). We didn't have long to look around Auckland so just looked along the main street, but from what we have heard we are not missing much.

The first night in Paihia we explored the area and got fish and chips to eat by the sea. After this we got a bottle of wine and then went back to the hostel and spent most of the night playing cards with other hostel guests.

The next day we went on a 22 hour cruise around the bay of islands. This involved quite a lot of activities including shooting at a plastic duck, fishing, kayaking and snorkelling. The first time kayaking from the boat was at night time and was amazing. We went out of the range of the boats lights so that we could see the phosphorescent algae in the water, this was really good as when you stuck your hand in the water or paddled it glowed and we even saw lots of fish glowing in the algae. The fishing was quite good as me and kirsty both caught our first fish and Kirsty was the first person on the boat to catch one, receiving a free beer for doing so. The snorlelling was also really good as the second place we snorkelled was a little lagoon where the water was really clear and quite warm. The trip was really good as the boat was really nice witrh a bar and a pool table and the crew were excellent and seemed to be able to remember everyones name easily. Whilst on the boat we tried some sea urchin eggs, that the crew had collected whilst snorkelling, which apparently sell for $500-600 a kilo although both me and Kirsty thought they were disgusting.

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Photos

our boat
the rock

where we went snorkelling
1st time