Blogs from Northland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 24

Breakfast was interrupted by a phone call from Jen’s Mum saying that Jen’s Dad Ray had been rushed to hospital after a possible heart attack. This of course meant that we considered heading home a month early. A later phone call was a bit more encouraging so we decided to continue with a journey pending any developments. We therefore headed south as planned. We waved off the Austrailian contingent on their bus - even getting a hug from Julie. The unexpected events meant that we left later than anticipated, and we had a tight schedule for all the things we wanted to do, so I forgot that the car ferry between Kohukohu and Rawene we had to catch leaves the north shore on the hour. The winding road passed through georgeous valleys as I raced ... read more

Leaving Paihia travelling north the roads become more deserted and the landscape even less populated. We descended to a bleak bay with many trailer homes (each with at least one abandoned car - or in some cases an old wreck of a bus). We passed some fields of emus. We passed remote and atmospheric small places on lovely bays. Highlight was a cafe stop at the Old Saddlery in Kaeo. Eventually we arrived at the workaday town of Kaitaia. The rain poured down as I went out for a newspaper and supplies. The hostel was friendly. A group of Australian teenagers were staying but they were well behaved and supervised and made the place lively. ... read more

The weather was really sunny and warm - at total odds with the previous evening forecast, which had shown clouds and heavy showers all day. After leaving the hostel, we drove to the museum on the main street. Waipu has an interesting history. A group of Scottish Highlanders impoverished by the highland clearances emigrated to Nova Scotia under the leadership of a independent minded minister. The going was tough and on the information of the ministers son some of them built a ship and sailed it to Australia - their arrival coincided with a goldrush and the associated lawlessness and immorality which was not what they were expecting, so they moved on to New Zealand (by this time the tough old minister was in his seventies). They founded a settlement and the most of the ... read more

As a contrast to our adrenaline packed week, we were looking forward to spending some time up in the Bay of Plenty. We passed through kiwi country, (fruit not birds) and the large city of Tauranga would be our base. This is a pleasant enough town with a large port and a fairly attractive waterfront. However as our hostel was full of fruit pickers who didn't really care about anyone else it was quite scruffy and noisy. Someone even had the cheek to steal our giant pot of unopened yogurt, resulting in a somewhat unhappy Laura. Whilst in Tauranga we hired two very shabby bikes to cycle to the seaside town of Mount Maunganui. The beach was gorgeous so most of the day was spent here building up a big collection seashells. Even though there ... read more

Final leg of my little tour was Tauranga/ Mt Maunganui . I didn’t really do much there apart from lounge on the beach and read a few books. Riveting stuff ehh. By the way Bill Clinton: my life, $14 can’t go wrong. Anyone who can find a book with a better price per page e-mail me. On the Friday I shot back up to Auckland for the night to watch the Blues Vs Warratahs in rugby at Eden park, $25 (9 pounds) for the ticket and 2 free pints. Not bad at all. I arrived back in Kerikeri last Saturday in preparation for my 1st shift at orangewood pack house. (Home until end of May I think) I decided against hitching this time. From experience you can come upon some strange people in this part ... read more