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Published: January 8th 2009
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Lots to talk about!
After my previous entry, that evening we bought a few cold ones and sat on the beach while the sunset. The sun set behind a bloody mountain behind us, so we couldn't see the sun set itself, but we could see the beautiful colours and shadows being cast in the sky and then the stars came out. I have never seen so many stars, and Orion, looked like a tangible human!
We headed back to the hostel, with a few beers left, planning to keep them for tomorrow but we bumped into one of our room-mates, Nick. Nick was the first person so far to hold a decent conversation with on meeting, so we figured, three beers, three guys. We sat there drinking beer and trading stories. Turns out he's thirty-two and if he hasn't been to country it probably isn't worth! He had only arrived today and was leaving tomorrow, so it was good to chat to a like minded person, even if we don't know his last name!
Hit the water early on the 6th. We were cruising searching for dolphins and we soon found them! Or they found us more likely
and stuck with us for half an hour, swimming under the boat and then when the boat took off again at speed they started leaping out of the water after us! It was incredible!
We then headed onto the Hole in the Rock, a spirirtual palce for the Maori, who believe that before battle they would have to pass through the hole in their waka (war canoe) and if a drop of water landed on a warrior or the waka, they would be blessed...however if it didn't, the would probably go round and round until a drop of water did land, you get the idea!
We cruised back, taking in some of the 130 islands, with their green mountains and golden secluded beaches. It was so iddylic!
That afternoon we rented some kayaks and hit the water, backed by our own power and landed on one of the islands, and were the only ones on the island! It was baking though and while ti would have been great to have stayed there all day, the sun cream had washed off my already burnt legs, resulting in, yet more burnage! We took the kayaks back, had a dip
in the sea to cool off then re-applied and chilled out for an hour on the beach. Rob ended up looking like, well, a very sunburnt person...!
We had an early start again the following morning, so just chilled out at the YHA, did some writing and reading before hitting the straw. Two germans in our chalet snored very loudly, so a very disjointed nights sleep, but couldn't be helped.
6.30am and we were up and eating toast, ready for our days adventure to Cape Reinga. The bus was a little late, but the driver more than made up for it as we drove. This guy, Spike, what a legend! He was funny as, sweet as and i loved his work! He wouldn't shut up, in a good way, he was like a radio dj too, the way he introduced the music he was playing, all personal favourites of his, and of course kiwi bands!
We stopped off first at a rainforest were the kauri tree grows. These trees are thousands of years old and bloody massive! They stretch to the sky. From waht i recall, Maori legend has it that the Kauri tree is a God
that is seperating his Father, the sky and his Mother, the Earth, to allow humans to live.
Next we headed to the 90 mile beach, via various little townships that Spike had funny stories about. The scenery we past was stunning! Esturies, rivers, small towns, secluded bays, mountains! Amazing! The bus is a 4X4 bus and drove right onto the beach, which is actaully a national highway, so the highway code applies and its is patrolled by the police looking for law breakers. The speed limit is 100km/h, whice we hurtled along at!
The 90 mile beach is called thus because in the days of the buffalo and cart, it would take a day for a buffalo to cover 30 miles and three days to cover the 90 mile beach. Do the math! Then some smart git came along and measured it and found out it was only 68!
We stopped on the beach to hunt for Tu Tu, a sort of mussel type shell fish. I caught a few. There, isn;t much of an art to it, you just have to dig youo feet into the low tide mark, in the water, and they feel like
rocks beneath your feet. Stick your hand down and pull the little bugger out. You slam two together and crack the shells and eat them fresh. They were squidgy, and tasted mainly of salt. But all in all they weren't that bad. I wouldn't choose to just eat them like that but wouldn't complain if i had to!
We drove up a stream to the sand dunes for a spot of sand boarding. Imagine being going to a slope on a bobsleigh in the snow...its nothing like that. You have a body board, and a very steep drop, made of sand of course. You can dive down, running jump or just slide but either way you end up shooting along at a nice and steady 40 miles an hour, head first, facing the sand, with just part of your torso on the board, balls slamming up and down on the sand and only your feet in way of speed control and steering. You reach the bottom, covered in sand, spitting sand and trying to remove sand from your eye with a sand covered hand while clutching your testicles. Fun, you ask me? Bloody great fun i say! But hiking
up the sand dune gets a bit heavy after four or five dives. It takes 10 mins to get up and 10 seconds to shoot down! Amazing!
Cape Reinga was our next stop, after a brief interlude at another beach for the girls to sunbathe and us MEN to hit the huge pacific waves! Cape Reinga, the Maori believe, is where the soul parts with New Zealand. It is also the most northerly point of NZ and where the Tasman and Pacific oceans meet. AS you can imagine, with the differing colours of the oceans, it looks fairly spectacular.
Our last stop of the day was at a place where they carves the Kauri treets into all sorts of weird and wonderful things, from the quaintest of bowls and plates to sculptures of Gollum and other various creatures.
We arrived back in Paihia late, and fairly shattered. We had another chilled evening, making the most of it, as the fortnight is going to be fairly heavy, being on the road nearly every day, and never spending more than one night in one place!
Today we had a relaxed morning, walking across the beach to the Waitanga
Treaty Grounds, where the British and the Maori signed the treaty that created modern New Zealand. The British promised to protect the Maori and see that land was traded fairly, if they could stay basically. Needless to say, it didn't go according to plan!
Back in Auckland YHA for the night. We had booked an eight share but there was a cock up in the booking, my heart skipped a beat, and then the lady asked if a twin ensuite would do. Well, I suppose it will have to!
Peace Out!
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