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Published: February 4th 2010
We woke up at Scott’s place and he served us some cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit and coffee. He even gave us some granola bars and apples as a snack for the road. We were dropped off at the Auckland Base Hostel where we waited for the bus. It was a little late but when it arrived there seemed to be some sort of commotion with some of the other passengers and the driver.
It took almost two hours before we got on the highway. In that time we stopped by the Kiwi Express office and many other hostels in the CBD(Central Business District). As we approached the driver said that if anyone had any complaints this is the place to voice them. It was a little strange when the driver got back on the bus and began to drive away. He announced that he had just quit the company but would continue on since his buddy would have to cover him and miss the ACDC concert.
The bus was scheduled to stop at Mt Eden, 360 degree viewpoint, but he didn’t stop. Thank God we got to see it with Scott and Negar as we would have missed out
if we waited for the Kiwi Experience bus.
We stopped in a small town named Thames for 30 minutes to grab lunch and have a bathroom break. The driver informed us it usually is an hour stop but it was raining and we only needed 30 minutes to eat. We ate at McDonald’s as that was the fastest thing.
Once back on the road we drove onward to the Mercury Bay area to a town named Whitianga was our stop for the evening. Along the way we were supposed to stop at Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. Once we got closer the driver asked if we wanted to go there or not.
The bus agreed we all wanted to stop at these great tourist areas.
Hot Water Beach is a crazy phenomenon where HOT water seeps up through the sand 1 hour before and after low tide each day. People rent spades to dig holes and then sit in the hot water. The water is so hot you have to get some cold water from the ocean also to make it pleasant.
Pete at first thought he would dig with his hands but then
decided it wasn’t efficient and too hard. I then walked 5 minutes back to the store to rent a spade. $20 deposit and $5 rental fee for 2 hours. Once I returned with the spade Pete quickly began to dig and we got to enjoy the hot water pool for about 20 minutes before our bus was departing at 3pm.
Next stop was the Cathedral Cove walk. WOW this was amazing as you can see from the pictures below. We got there at 3:40pm; since 2 girls were 30 minutes late and almost left at Hot Water Beach. We got 2 hours at Cathedral Cove as the hike down was to take 40 minutes each way plus time to enjoy the scenery. There were also many hikes to Gemstone Bay and Stingray Bay from the main path to Cathedral Cove which we went to Stingray Bay on our way back.
Didn’t see any Stingrays only crabs.
By this time we were VERY Hungry as we had no idea it would be this long until we had access to food again as the driver didn’t do a good job of informing us. This was probably because a group
Hot Beach 9
it was really hotof people were upset with him from the start of the day.
We arrived finally at Whitianga(Fit-e-ung-a) around 6pm. The bus did a quick trip around the small town and then took us to Turtle Cove. Pete and I were first in line to get a room as the bus holds 50 passengers with the majority staying at the same hostel as us.
We haven’t pre-booked any hostels as that was too much stress at the start of a 20 day journey in NZ. Each evening Kiwi Experience recommends 1 or 2 hostels and drops us off/picks us up the next morning.
Turtle Cove has been the BEST hostel we have stayed in yet of all our journeys. We got a private ensuite room which means it is our own private room with a bathroom. Most hostels have dorm room options and then the bathrooms are shared. It only cost us 70NZD=$50USD for the room and 14NZD=$10.08 spaghetti dinner for 2 people. Check out the pictures of the room very modern.
Dinner was served at 7pm to those of us who signed up and they had a bar right at the hostel. We started with a
Rum and Coke for dinner then I was done drinking. Pete decided to have 3 or 4 more beers and play pool with Carson, he is from Pittsburgh, just graduated college in December and works for a Commercial Construction firm in North Carolina. Oh Yeah the food was great as the spaghetti had meat sauce and was served with a large piece of garlic bread.
Once everyone was served their first plate then we were offered seconds for the remaining food. Of course Pete got another plate and I had a few bites of it also as it was good and we hadn’t eaten since 12ish.
I laid in the room while Pete started our load of laundry. I was tired from getting up at 7am and hiking for a good distance. Another good adventure….
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paulette
non-member comment
amazing beaches
these beaches look great - especially Cathedral Cove - you're right, that hostel looks great. some of the hostel bathrooms I've been in are really teeny, tiny - I'm sure you've seen those, too.