Bay of Islands

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Apologies for the delay on this entry but I have been having far to much fun since we got on the Kiwi Bus on Sunday.

So, finally left Auckland to head up to the Bay of Islands in the North. Only as we were heading up there and looking at the scenery did we realise how pants Auckland was (since then have not met anyone who is an Auckland fan at all)
So we stayed in Paihia which is sort of the main Island out of the 144 that are up there. Gorgeous hostel with a pool and hot tub and it was actually clean which was a nice change! Paihia is tiny, only one street and a hole mass of beaches so we spent that day just on the beach and having a bbq in the hostel with a few people we met on the bus.

Next day went on a days yacht tour around the island. Me, Yvo and 3 other guys got to sail the boat and stopped on a deserted private beach for our lunch. The guy had a kayak on the boat so kayaked around the coast for a little while aswell. Burnt my knees and shins incredibly badly that day so we have finally taken note of the lack of ozone layer and bought some suncream! Some of the most stunning views I've ever seen! That night we took advantage of having a pretty empty room and caught up on all the lack of sleep from Auckland.

Then next day we did a waka tour (which is basically a maori canoe) Me Yvo and a girl called Helena paddled around the coast and then dived of in an attempt to find Pipi's (and failed) so dived off in another spot and picked mussels (which is infact much harder than it looks! The we headed to yet another deserted tiny cove and our Maori tour guide Nick cooked them up for us on the beach as we drank some wine. Got back to the hostel then and played beer pong with a load of people we met. Very bad at beer poing. So is Yvonne. Very drunk evening ensued. Turned into a brill night though. Ben and Norman came to Paihia, aswell as 2 American girls who we met in Auckland so had a good time with the group of us.

Around this point we decided we loved Paihia and tried to get jobs but the season dosen't really start until December so that was unsuccessful so carried on having fun instead.
Played some tennis, spent a day kayaking (which is one of the main things I wanted to do when i was out here so that was pretty epic) Managed to get stranded on a rock which everyone else thought was hilarious so they named it 'Megan's rock' and pointed and laughed at me while i struggled to get back in the sea.
That evening finally cooked a decent meal...went to the supermarket and got some mussells, rather impressed with myself!

Went ot the Waitangi treaty house where the treaty was signed which officially 'created' New Zealand. Watched a Maori show (haka in person is immense) and checked out the treaty buildings etc.

Then finaly day I went para sailing! Surprinsingly not really an adrenaline thing, just really nice and relaxing...well as relaxed as you can be 1200ft in the air. And finally, since that was our last day we went out for some 'fash' and chips for our last night with Ben and Norman.

Anyway, this is a very abreviated version as this was all about a week ago and its getting increasingly hard to remember things. Also, Im currently in the middle fo travelling around North Island and Im having ALOT of fun.

Hope your all good, will try and write a more indepth explanation of my Kiwi bus adventures.

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Photos

The waitangi treaty house
Touching noses is the traditional maori way to greet people. This is the front of a maori war canoe.

On the yacht
The day i burnt my knees