Straying south..

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Leaving Auckland for a second time, (and the Fat Camel hostel thank goodness. No clean linen and they hadn't cleaned the room from our last visit!), we were picked up outside the hostel by Warren (Woz) in his big orange Stray Bus. It was pretty much full when we got on and after stopping at the YHA, Backpackers, and City hostels we had a full house (bus).
Woz began (as he would everyday) by giving a run down of the plan for the day, outlining our stops for sights, places of interest, shop stops and accommodation. The activities/ accommodation organised or recommended by Stray was listed on a clipboard which was passed around the bus and we chose what we wanted, or just left it and did our own thing.

On our first day with Stray, we drove east to Hahei. This was on the coast and after checking into the backpacker accommodation (a dorm with nine girls and me!) we decided to do Sea Kayaking. We got togged up at the beach and were given spray decks luckily. Lin and I were in a twin kayak and we managed to get past the breakers without capsizing! Almost immediately we were joined by a pod of Dolphins, at least 15, and they swam alongside us as we paddled across the bay... a real bonus, and I won't forget that.
It was good fun and most of the time we managed to paddle to the same rythmn, so made good headway. At the halfway point we went through a tunnel into a cave where the roof had collapsed. We made a raft of the seven kayaks and the guide broke out the fruit juice and a box of cookies which we demolished in no time!
Back to the holiday park, we jumped on the bus and went to Hot Water Beach. Armed with shovels, we walk halfway up the beach to a point where the rocks touched the sea and joined many others digging in the sand to find the hot water simmering below the sand. It took a few attempts but once we found it, the water was so hot that you almost burnt your feet, so the pools needed a channel to the sea for some cold water.
For our first evening with Stray, we had a big BBQ and everyone helped prepare the food (I cleaned potatoes, Lin chopped onions...and cried alot!) which woz had bought earlier with our $5 each. It was really good, there was loads of food and it was a great chance to get to know everyone.

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Photos

Wozza's bus
Our first Stray adventure..