Blogs from Paihia, Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 13

This week was all about the Northlands, the very northern tip of New Zealand at Cape Reinga where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet and the magical Bay of Islands - giant kauri forests, stunning beaches and glistening seas. The week started with two lousy hostels and ended with two great ones and I met some interesting and fun people along the way. At the start of the week I was still travelling the Coromandel Peninsular but the weather turned and it started to rain heavily just as I was waiting for the bus from Whitianga to Coromandel Town. The Coromandel hostel was strange and not a great experience, being part campsite and part motel - I was in a tiny wooden cabin room with bunk beds and a window that leaked rain all over ... read more

Notre premiere semaine en Nouvelle-Zelande a ete bien remplie, passant d'un barbecue avec des amis a de la plongee a du voilier en pleine tempete ! Mon ami Jamie, avec qui j'avais passe une bonne partie de mon voyage en Australie est venu nous chercher a l'aeroport d'Auckland. J'etais bien content de le revoir, ca faisait plus de 4 ans qu'on ne s'etait pas vu et c'est comme si c'etait hier ! Il nous a amene sur deux des cones volcaniques d'Auckland, question d'avoir un superbe point de vue sur la ville et nous avons egalement ete faire un petit tour a la plage ! On etait loin des plages de Fiji, mais quand meme, c'est vraiment super d'avoir une plage a deux pas de la ville. Le soir, Jamie avait invite quelques amis et on ... read more

AUCKLAND - Her kommer vi! Vi havde en lang, men god flyvetur herned. Det tog ca. 42 timer, saa vi var meget tidsforvirrede undervejs og traette da vi ankom til hotellet i Auckland. Vores foerste nat paa hotellet var god og det var laekkert med et bad efter den lange rejse. Tirsdag morgen skulle vi for foerste gang ud med vores tasker paa ryggen, og finde os et hostel. Vi tog den nemme loesning, da vi opdagede hvor tunge taskerne var, og ikke anede noget om de forskellige hostels i byen. Laegere nede af vejen, fandt vi FAT CAMAL, som var et "yderst eksklusivt og renligt" hostel. Vi flyttede ind paa et 6 personers vaerelse, hvor der allerede boede 2 piger fra Frankrig. Vores foerste oplevelse med et hostel var desvaerre ikke saa god, da ... read more

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, ... read more

The last post for New Zealand :( Its going to be sad to leave such a beautiful country but I have had a brilliant last few days and they have definitely left me wanting more! When I was planning our time in the North Island I realised we were going to have too many days in Auckland so decided to look for something a bit different and came up with Karamu Trail Trek. This farm based accomodation is about 15 minutes west of Hamilton and is a perfect location to recharge the batteries before hitting Auckland. When we first arrived, I opened the car door and was instantly greeted by a gorgeous black labrador, who I have since discovered is more of an attention seeker than Tiggy! After checking in and popping into town to get ... read more