Up to Paihia

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Having been all the way down to the bottom of the South Island, figures I might as well go all the way up to the top of the North Island! First went up to Paihia, which is a weird plasticy place. Maybe it's because cruise ships stop there a lot, so there's a different kind of tourist to the ones I'm used to (that is, backpackers like me)? can't really define what's different about it, it just is.

Very close to Waitangi though, which I keep hearing about everywhere in every single museum in New Zealand. So figured I'd go there, really nice little 30-minute walk down the beach, kept getting passed by tour-buses stuffed with people going over there then coming back 20 minutes later. It was really expensive to get in to Waitangi! Although, it's kind of strange that the ticket is valid for two consecutive days, how many people come back two days in a row? Apart from me, because I forgot my camera the first time 😞. But a very interesting place, nice scenery, though not much sense of history at all.

Wat else did I do in Paihia? I went to Russell, which apparently was known as 'The hell-hole of the Pacific', though by now it's embraced twee with a vengenace. Watched the helicopters take off, eat an ice-cream, went to the library. Really didn't do much.

I did go on a coach-trip right up to the very top of New Zealand, which is Cape Reinga. It was a backpacker bus, which can be annoying, but it was also the cheapest. Cape Reinga itself is awesome. It's possible to actually see the point where the Tasman sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, and there are Maori legends about how the souls of the dead make their way up to a certain tree here before they leave the earth. On the way back we went sand-boarding, which is more difficult than it sounds! I did end up with sand in very uncomfortable places. The bus came back along 90-mile beach, which is actually nowhere near 90 miles - I think it's about 60 miles-ish.

I then left Paihia! One day as I went to pay for that night at the hostel they said they were fully booked, so it was a very abrubt departure. Had to just hope for the best that there would be a seat on a bus back to Auckland, otherwise I would have been sleeping on a beach! But, luckily, I was able to come back to the metropolis.

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Photos

"Fear me!"
In the marae in Waitangi

A waka (war canoe) in Waitangi
It's actually still on tracks that lead to the sea, so it can theoretically be called back into service to attack the Pakeha at any time

Russell
Not hell-hole-like at all

Cape Reinga
The darker blue is the Pacific, and the turquise is the Tasman sea

Sand boarding
Hiking up the sand-mountain was death. One step forward, five steps back. Did eventually make it to the top though.

90 mile beach
Looks like an overcast day, but so awesome you could see the horizon for miles