Blogs from Paihia, Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 15

The small town of Paihia is a backpacker's paradise. It has several restaurants and cafes, a tiny but cute library and a sweet little weekly farmer's market. Paihia also has plenty of backpacker bars (our favorite name is the "Pickled Parrot"), serving mediocre beer and advertising special events. The weekly lineup for a bar close to our motel includes: "Toga Party - TONITE!" "Karaoke!!!" "Wet T-shirt contest- Wednesday!" Alas, we are no longer 22 (actually, we were never this kind of 22-year-old). So instead we've decided to take to the water and explore the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands is undoubtedly the most-visited area in Northland. Over 150 islands are scattered throughout the tourquoise waters of the Bay. We took a four-hour boat tour to explore a few of the islands and to see ... read more

A decision I made fairly early on with this blog was not to mention specific company names of places I stayed at, or services I used, unless needed for the story. No-one is paying me to write this, and I don’t feel the need to market anyone else’s services. However, on day 7, I am entering a new world - the world of coach tours - and as it is a bit of a gamble for 7 days, and a key step in my travel life, I don’t mind telling you about my experience with Kirra Tours. Perhaps it would be more accurate to tell you about Peter. His job is Coach Captain, meaning he drives, offers a running commentary, and generally stays with the group to sort out practical arrangements. In reality, Peter is what ... read more

Allo! First of all, we hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to 2010! It was lovely to speak to you all over the holidays and thanks so much for all our pressies, we had a great time opening them all up on the beach! Christmas in the Summer was a bit weird..... but one I think we could definitely get used too! On Christmas eve eve, we headed off to the Bay of Islands, which is four hours north of Auckland. The Bay of Islands is made up of 144 Islands at the very northern tip of NZ, we rented a little Bach pad in Paihia for Christmas. We were told that Paihia was a bit "tourist tastic" by a few kiwis, so we were a little nervous that it ... read more

Today we continued up north. We stopped in Whangarei, where we had our exhaust pipe cut and replaced with a new one. Adam got to go look at the old pipe, and said it looked like swiss cheese. So it's good we got it replaced. While the van was being worked on, we walked down to the harbor and got some ice cream. It was warm out so it tasted gooood. Adam tried the hokey pokey and I had a lemon cheesecake kind. It was nice. We got our van and went to the AH Reed Kauri Park, where we took a 30 minute walk around and part of it was a walkway up in the treetops. It was a nice break from the heat and a beautiful park. Afterward we continued on a smaller road ... read more

Boat rocking and sand in odd places!!! Did you know there was this tiny peninsula above Auckland, which is just mystically referred to as “the northlands”? well I didn’t, I had always thought it was just part of Auckland, but turns out this is one of THE main places to holiday for Kiwi’s - so we figured what’s good enough for them must be even better for us!!. We arrived at the seaside town of Paihia and checked into our hostel. It was just a few minutes from the beach and a very new and chilled place, but far enough away from the bus stop that dragging our bags was a strain (well for me anyway). Apparently the only 5 star hostel in New Zealand, which seems a bit odd coz if it’s over a few ... read more