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Published: June 21st 2013
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We left Auckland and decided to head up North to Paihia, the town located at the bay of islands. I drove all the way there and loved it (Jon kept calling me hogsley as he wanted to do some driving in our van) - it was great having some freedom! We picked up two German girls who were hitch hiking along the way and gave them a lift to their hostel just around the corner from our campsite. The campsite we stayed at was called Twin Pines and it was right next to Huari Falls - it was a great spot just outside of Paihia and we were the only people there. When we arrived around 6ish, we decided to make up our chilli con carne dinner which ended in abit of a disaster. Jon ended up tipping in too much chilli powder by mistake. I gave it a good go but having to drink half a cup of water after every mouthful didn't make the experience too enjoyable so we washed up, watched some terrible kiwi Xfactor and called it a night.
I don't think we had adjusted to the time difference still and ended up waking up around
7am. After having brekkie and getting showered we drove back down to the seafront at Pahia and decided to go on a super fast jet boat around the islands and the hole in the rock. We went with a company called Mack Attack and they provided us with the most hilarious waterproof clothing which was too big for us, especially me. There were 8 of us all together and it was such a fun experience. The waves were quite choppy, so when the skipper went full throttle we were all getting thrown around and slammed into our seats which made Jon feel a bit queasy - I loved it and had a massive smile on my face the whole time. The views from the boat were incredible with the sun shining down and glistening off the sea. We got to see lots of small, unspoilt islands (there are over 200 in the bay hence the name), the boat also took us out to a peculiar rock in the middle of the sea which had a huge hole in it, as if something had tunnelled through it. When we stopped there the sea was really rough but the skipper managed to
drive us through the hole. He also pointed out a face-like figure that naturally was on the cliffs - spooky! The most impressive part of the boat trip was seeing dolphins though. We pulled up about 10 metres away from a pod of them, they were a bit shy at first but we took pictures as they swam along. Then just as everybody got back into their seats for us to move on a dolphin jumped out of the water in to mid-air, flipped over and disappeared with a splash back into the sea. It was an unbelievable sight and Jon and I were beaming for the rest of the ride back to shore. You would of thought that after being thrown around here, there and everywhere we wouldn't have much of an appetite but we decided to go and gorge on some fish and chips that we had been craving for weeks! We went to a place called Vinny's across the road and had a battered Hoki and chips for $8 - it wasn't quite as good as home but it was still yummy!
Feeling incredibly full we left Paihia and Jon drove up to a place called
Matai Bay where we stayed at the most beautiful DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite. It was right on the beach and where we stayed looked out onto the white sand and clear calm waves. We decided to go and take a stroll around the beach but bumped into an older drunk and a little creepy kiwi couple. We had a beer with them but after a while of the guy getting a bit too touchy we made a sharp exit down to the beach.
When we returned back to the van it was almost dark so I started to make up our bed in the back of the van and Jon started to re-heat the eye watering chilli from the night before. It wasn't as bad that night as I mixed in a good helping of sour cream to try and cool it down. After clearing and washing up we decided to watch a film on the I-pad. About an hour into the film I started getting weird pains in my chest and stomach. Jon told me I'd got indigestion and I'd be fine. I tried to ignore it but I just didn't feel right. Jon looked at me
and said "You're not going to be sick are you?" To which I replied "Yes!!!! Open the door quick, get out the way" I managed to get out of the van but didn't make it very far and ended up throwing up my dinner in a nearby bush. Afterwards I felt much better and got back into the van with Jon who looked horrified. After the film we went to sleep but got woke up by a screaming noise not far from the van. I shined the torch out the window and noticed all my sick had disappeared. I then heard something scurrying about in the trees, I shined the torch and saw it was a possum. He must of found the chilli pretty spicy too!
The next day we got up pretty early and made our way up to Cape Reigna, at the very top of New Zealand where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. The views on the way were really eye catching so we had to keep stopping along the way to take pictures. When we arrived we took a short walk to the lighthouse and saw out to the crashing of the two
sea currents. We met an Indian guy at the top who told us he was a big hockey player but we had never heard of him. He took some pictures of us by the lighthouse and then Jon had to return the favour lots of times and was instructed to take the pictures in various different angles and modes. When Jon finally managed to escape being the Indian families personal photographer we set off driving again. Along the way we stopped off for a super noodle picnic and then drove to a place called Pukenui where we stayed for the night. It was quite a small place and didn't take us long to walk around and explore it.
In the morning we had an early start and left the campsite to head to the Kauri coast, where you can see some of the biggest trees in the world. On the way we stopped off to take pictures of ninety mile beach, which is actually 90 kilometres, not miles long. After that it was a long, windy and wet drive but eventually we got to the site of New Zealand's largest tree. The rain was absolutely chucking down so we
ran to see it, took a few pics and got thoroughly soaked. We had wanted to do a walking tour of the forest but with the rain it just wasn't really possible. We headed to Trouson Park DOC site and had a walk around. It is possible to see Kiwi birds there but we never did, maybe they don't like the rain.
After dinner Jon made us a packed lunch for the next day consisting of corn beef sandwiches. I was a bit unsure but he made me try some assuring me I'd like it. It tasted gross and the meat looked illegal. It was safe to say I wasn't looking forward to lunch the next day! Overall we both really enjoyed our first few days in the far north of New Zealand. It was really beautiful and the weather was great considering we were coming into New Zealand's winter! Saying that it had been a bit quiet and we'd not seen many other travellers so we were ready to head for rotten Rotorua!
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