Blogs from Northland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 33

OK, so we have been in the Northland for the last 6 days. Our main area is a town called Paihia which is in the Bay of Islands. We also took a day trip up to Cape Reinga, which is the northern most part of the country, and where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. We did some dune boarding while we were up there as well. There is much more to tell, but I figure I would just post pictures then write later.... read more

We took the east coast highway northwards (stopping only for one night in Orewa) to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. As we drove through Auckland, the fabled sub-tropical climate of the North was kicking-in and soon we knew we were leaving the bad weather behind us. In Paihia, the first thing we did was to go our for a slap-up chinese banquet to celebrate Tim's quitting-smoking-anniversary, where Emma was lucky(?) enough to get to try raw oysters for the first time (and enjoyed them although she prefers them cooked and battered in true kiwi style!!). We took the ferry, the next day, over to Russell - one of NZ's most historic towns - and followed a self-guided walk around the town and up and over Flagstaff hill. We also spent a day in Waitangi (exploring ... read more

Tip top North Island Sand boarding is super cool Wind blown look is not. We had a super early wake up call since we had to be up and ready by 7:15 to catch our tour bus that would take us all the way up to Cape Reinga. Or in other words the tip of the North Island. Trying to be up and ready by 7:15 when there are eight other people in the room and only one bathroom was quite a challenge. Luckily there was a kitchenette in our room as well that was equipped with a sink, so that helped. There was a bit of a panic when I went to bed since I misplaced my watch. Oh no. The alarm is going to go off and wake up the entire room. DOH! Luckily ... read more

Kia Ora, You know what's weird about NZ? No native mammals or any poisonous beasts in the wild. I've just had a nice long solitary walk in a eucalyptus forest (minus the koalas) and am sitting in Kerikeri's super happenin' Internet cafe -- McDonalds. Let's talk about McDonald's differences, because everyone likes it. The menu here is different from America. (Sorry, no Le Royales.)Everything comes in the form of a sub sandwich with all the naughty fillings inside. Vege, Italian, Beef 'n' BBQ, or, if the customer's really feeling wild, Chicken Tandoori. What happened to the burgers??? I suspect guess the sandwich bread are really just elongated burger buns. The kitchen is totally laid back. No one wears uniforms or latex gloves. Before coming to civilization, I had a beautiful week running around the Kauri ... read more

Sam and Jo came to meet me at the airport in Auckland and we jumped in our family sized hire car (just as well given all our luggage!!) to start our 5 day road trip to the Northland area. We quickly faced our first challenge.... trying to get out of the city!! We could see the motorway we wanted to get on to and spent a happy half hour zig zagging over it on bridges and driving along side it but I swear there wasn't a single signpost for getting on to it in the direction we wanted to go.... we later found out that to go north you first had to go south??!! Our first stop was a place called Whangerai (still can't get my head around how a wh is pronounced f but I ... read more