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Published: August 11th 2007
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Beach
Me on the Beach in the Bay of Plenty Two Weeks of Travel
There was a 2 week period after leaving Auckland when I traveled around the North Island with Kristina, a girl that I met while in Auckland. Basically, we drove around the majority of the island, and tried to visit as many towns as we could, mostly just passing through anxious to make it to the next town ha-ha. But traveling for that time was very fun, and it was the period of time here when I felt most like a "backpacker", sleeping in the car, stopping at camp sites, going without shower for days at a time, etc. It was probably the most fun I've had since being here.
What this traveling did was it gave me a chance to see a lot of the North Island. It was very adventurous because at this point Auckland was the only part of New Zealand I had seen. So those first few hours of driving away from the city were very fun and exciting.
The first night, we camped out by Blue Lake, just south of the town of Rotorua. While at the camp site we started walking around, and by this time it was
Kristina
Driving next to Lake Taupo already very late, probably midnight. We came upon another camp site where there were 15-20 people all hanging out drinking. Being extremely nice to us they called us over and offered us beer, and asked where we were from. When they found out that I played, they demanded that I go get my guitar and play for them. We ended up playing music and singing all night, drinking, doing beer bongs, and just having a great time. On top of that, we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It was a small camp site and was miles from the town. So it was just a great feeling, out by the lake with a large group of young guys all hanging out playing music, having a good time. And that is one night alone that beats any night I’ve had in the cities.
The next day we continued east, and saw the bay of plenty. Basically we just drove along the coastline and drove through all the small towns giving us a feel for what the small town life is like. I specifically remember one town we passed through called Ruatoria. We needed gas and decided that we
Bay of Plenty
This is on the east coast would stop in this town to get some. When we got there it almost looked deserted. It was extremely small, nothing was open, and there were no restaurants or anything. The gas station was probably the smallest one I've ever seen, but it wasn't open so we couldn't stop. The only thing that was open was a small camper that a lady was serving food out of. We basically just drove through the town saying "wow" as we passed without stopping. Talk about a small town. I've never seen anything like this in my life.
Anyway, the rest of the time on the road was basically the same as the first couple days. We just drove and stopped for food and gas. Some of the bigger towns we stayed in for a few hours and walked around, such as Napier, Girborne, and Lake Taupo. Then, we finally made it to Wellington where I stayed as Kristina left for the South Island. Good Times
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