Blogs from Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

It has been a long time since my last blog, so I will fill you in on my adventures. On Tuesday we woke up in the morning to visit the infamous kiwi bird. The kiwi bird is an endemic New Zealand bird that is most closely related to the emu and ostrich. In the afternoon, we went to a beach where they also had a trek up a mountain to the mermaid pools, where when the tide goes out, the pools fill with water. The pools are usually very warm because they have the whole day to warm in the sun. The day that we went, the water was probably about 18-19 degrees Celsius. It has been fun switching over to the metric system. I don't know why Americans don't use it because it makes way ... read more

A quick update, because free internet is few and far between if you don't have a laptop or smartphone around these parts. Although it's already a few days ago, let me tell you about how I got lost outside Whangarei (pronounce: Fangarei). Because I was still exhausted from my long trek to the Waipu Caves through the hills, my caving adventure at the Waipu Caves, and the long climb towards a little piece of Paradise called Little Earth Lodge east of Whangarei, right next to the Abby Caves, which I also explored. Being so tired, and needing to see a bit more of Whangarei, instead of moving to the next city I moved to the next hostel, a bit north of Whangarei, so I would have a headstart the next day. This gave me the time ... read more

For our last two weeks of the trip we have based ourselves in Whangarei (pronounced Fong-gar-ay), which is about 100 miles N of Auckland and is the principal town of the Northland Peninsula. For the first few days we just explored the area around Whangarei harbour - which is about 14 miles long - and is indented with dozens of coves and pristine beaches. The whole of the eastern side of Northland is a paradise for anyone into water-based activities; be it sailing, fishing, kayaking or snorkelling. We spent an afternoon on a dolphin-watching trip from the Bay of Islands town of Paihia: after cruising thro' the islands for a couple of hours the skipper was getting anxious as there were no dolphins to be seen; perhaps they had had enough of tourists for the day. ... read more

30 december - 4 jan Hoge verwachtingen hadden we niet van Whangarei (uit te spreken als fangarei). Niemand die we ontmoette was er langer dan 1 dag geweest of had iets positiefs te melden over dit kleine stadje. De plaats leek weinig te bieden en vooral te dienen als rustplaats tussen de Bay of Islands en Auckland. Dat laatste klopte zeker. Veel backpackers kwamen 's avonds aan en vertrokken de volgende ochtend weer. Maar man, hebben zij veel gemist! Het hostel waar we zaten was 1 van de gezelligste tot nu toe. Mede dankzij de enkele personen die wel langer bleven en gastpaar Peter (NL immigrant uit jaren vijftig en nog nooit teruggeweest) en Noell. Maar Whangarei bleek ook enorm veel mooie natuur te hebben. We begonnen het nieuwe jaar goed, door op 1 januari een ... read more

At my early morning walk I took some photos here and there.!... read more