Blogs from Paihia, Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 35

Hey guys and girls We plan to do a backwards update as to what we have done so far in beautiful New Zealand but obviously won't go into everything as we have been emailing most of the information to you already! Also we plan to upload our photos when and as we can...hopefully it will work. We are in the Bay of Islands and a week today fly to Singapore and then on to Borneo...it is getting very exciting now woo hoo. Keep in touch guys.... read more

It was good to be leaving Auckland and heading North to the sun! OUr forst Kiwi Experience driver was called Andy and he was great! very knowledgable about the country and so helpful. We met up with two swedish guys, Thomas and Karl, Matt from the UK and Jay from Flarida so a good mixed bunch! We drov up to Paihia which was beautiful. there are 144 island in the Bay of island but we could only see about 2!! the hostel (the Pipi Patch) was really small and friendly (complete with a cat!) so we were pleased to be staying there for Christmas. We got the boat over to a small plce called Russel with the swedish boys and spent most of the time over there trying to look for anything christmassy!! we ended up ... read more

Whoehoee dolfijnen geZien!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jee jaeee!!!!!! Ik zit nu al weer een paar dagen in Paihia!! Reis nu met Stray bus...en heb al vanalles gezien en gedaan!! Voor degenen naar wie de mail niet lukte, en nouja gewoon voor iedereen...ik hoop dat jullie een leuke kerst en oud en nieuw hebben gehad!!! Ik had een foto gemaakt als kerstkaart om te versturen, maar is nog niet gelukt...maar hier is een vervangende foto!!! Merry X mas Ik ben met stay vanaf auckland naar het noorden gereisd. We zijn gestopt bij het beroemde toiletgebouw ontwerp van hundertwasser! En zijn daarna doorgereden naar het bird recovery centre. Daar vangen ze dieren op en ze hadden er veel vogels die je alleen in Nz ziet!! De tui, zat daar ook, en deze was speciaal, want hij praatte zo ongeveer, met een ... read more

Monday 18th December No early morning start, much to our relief. We left the campsite on foot, heading just around the corner to the Hururu falls. They weren't spectacular compared to what we've seen in the past and so we didn't loiter in the vacinity long. We set off along the track towards the area called Waitangi, passing through a mangrove forrest on the way - spying some crabs in the mud as well. Waitangi is the birth place of modern New Zealand as it was in these grounds that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by 45 or so Maori chiefs in 1840, which gave Britain sovereignty over the whole country. The grounds had changed hands many times since but were presented to New Zealand so the history could be preserved. We soon found a ... read more

Turns out I run Paihia...!!! Paihia is pretty small and my friend Christina (from London) and I both seem to work at core news centres...at any given moment one of us should be able to give you the low down on pretty much any of the "local" backpackers as we seem to know enough people who know people...we're particularly handy when it comes to spreading rumours although we do try and keep them accurate (when convenient) ...it's very weird meeting people and already knowing something about them...am sure some of the information will come in real handy if I ever need cash (numerous blackmail opportunities available)... Most of the long termers have packed their bags and headed off to explore the rest of New Zealand (and other parts of the world)...I was very sad to see ... read more