Paihia - Bay of Islands

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This morning we set off early, 7.20 we were picked up by the bus to be precise. The kiwi experience which we are just starting is a bus pass which we can travel down the country on, we hop on and off when and where we like, as long as we go south. Except this part as its an extension so we are allowed to travel up to the bay of islands then travel back down to Auckland.
The bus journey took about 4hours and we arrived at about 12pm. We travelled with our buddy Jenny who was doing the same pass as us. When we arrived she met someone she had met in Fiji and we all ended up in the same room. They were gona go for a hike to the Haruru Falls Waterfall, so we decided to join them; the hike took us a long winded hour and a half in flip flops where we went through some woods on a track. It was a Kiwi birds place where they bred i think...least i think it was the Kiwi's (or some other endangered bird). We went over like a swamp which has mussels and mud crabs of which we saw none but got some cool photos. When we tried to attempt the walk back...well...we couldn’t it was a mission so Jenny and Jamie managed to jump on a school bus somehow as they we a bit behind; what a good bus driver and then they soon caught up with us and gave us a lift back. How lucky were we! Best $2.50 I’ve ever spent.
Once we were back we got some bits from the shop to make for lunch, as you can imagine a big hike which was about 6km’s….big enough for us anyway, Charmaine and I were rather….starving and we cant really affort to keep eating out so have to switch to traveller mode soon…Now seemed like the best time to start, we brought some bread and ham, cheese, noodles, all cheap things really which helped and hopefully should last us the next few days that we are here. We are staying here until Thursday morning then we go back to Auckland for a night then we go down to Rotarua I think next.
We had pre-paid for dinner which was a barbecue, which was amazing! Best barbecue that I have had yet. Steak, giant sausage, jacket potatoe, salad, bread butter….sounds pretty standard but considering the crap we have been eating it was perfect. Hit the spot indeed.
After this we only had a drink or 2 each then went to bed early again.
Nightnightnightnightnight

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