Blogs from Northland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 32

Gem here again, Dave is busy putting photos onto previous blogs. Left Kaitaia thankfully a couple of days ago. Leaving a room that we woke up to find an army of ants trying to get from one side to the other and they we everywhere. Mentioned this to the hostel staff and the said thankyou, no apology or that they would sort this out. Did we also mention the glas, well due to the weather one of the doors glass blew through and there was glass everywhere, I cleaned up the inside and another guest put the temporary cardboard in to cover the whole. The owner Then after a quick hoover left the glass outside for tomorrow morning to clean up, and next morning when we left it was still there just prime for a kiddy ... read more

Hi Gem here, Well yesterday was absolutely horrible weather the worst we have seen in this country since we started. Gails and constant rain, not very pleasant. It did lighten up a wee bit this morning and so we decided we would take the trip to cape reinga (can't think of right spelling) and ninety mile beach. The weather to start with lifted and was bright sunshine but quickly changed and started to pour down and the winds blowing the coach about. Funny thing was that everytime we got off the coach the subn came out and it stopped raining. Think the driver had a special wand or something. So we have stayed relatively warm throughout the whole day. We stopped off at several places, The ancient Kauri kingdom, Kauri being one of the largest known ... read more

Hello everybody, We have now arrived at Kerikeri, after passing through lots of places. Including the bay of islands. Very nice here. After the initial leg of the journey on bikes (where we cycled to Bethells beach - apparently where they filmed parts of the Piano and another film which I can't remember). We got very tired and ended up putting the tent up in someones back garden - with their permission. They were very friendly, but wouldn't you know it, one of the people was from Brixton!! Cycle up a very big hill and find somebody from England! After this horribly tiring day, the following day we had to walk up another very big hill and decided this wasn't fun and caught the train back to the nearest town and phoned a car rental place ... read more

From trip of mid February '05: Headed North first as suggested by various books, was shocked to feel like I'd landed in L.A. after 16 hrs of plane travel when I arrived in Aukland the first night. Walked across to a pretty little beach but was still in a sectioned off suburbia. At last reached little harbor town of Paihia after stopping at Kawakawa to use the famous toilets recycled glass artwork of Austrian artist F.Hundertwasser,they have postcards and calendars, it's a 2 street town the post office was my first taste of Kiwi hospitality/education in Maori welcome, a favorite for chatting with the locals who stopped in. In Paihia had rented a two bedroom apartment set on a hillside off school street, as part of group of 5,traveling with handsome Butch and my lovely ... read more

We travelled south, taking the car ferry across Hokianga harbour (just like in "Jaws") to the picturesque town of Rawene where we walked through mangroves and had lunch at the site of an old saw mill. We stopped briefly in Oponini to see the grave and memorial statue of "'Opo' the friendly dolphin" (very famous in the 1950's for being a dolphin who regularly came into the harbour to 'play' with holiday-makers who travelled from all over to see this miracle of nature...more later) before settling in Omapere a few kms down the coast for the weekend. The Hokianga harbour is a remote and unspoilt natural harbour protected by a sandbar and a place of outstanding beauty on the edge of the remaining ancient Kauri forests. We took a drive out one day to see 'Tane ... read more