Allview Lodge Paihia

Well, we are now in New Zealand, 4 million people, 40 million sheep. It's a lot colder and wetter here but the scenery is much better. We arrived in Auckland, NZ's capital city which is kind of small. NZ dollars have a much better exchange rate than aussie dollars so luckily for us that makes everythign quite cheap around here, a bonus for our wallets. We spent a few days in Auckland just gettign to know it, the central area is not actually very big so it didn't take long ...

From Kaikoura it is a two day trip back to Auckland via Wellington. Nothing too exciting, just a bus journey... I decide to stay in a hostel out of town. It takes me ages to get there (my own fault for picking one so far away!) but it's worth the hassle. It's fun and I have a great evening there talking with other travellers. I head off to the Bay of Islands, North of Auckland, the very next day. Small bus this time and very small croud, and lovely ...

... take a beer from the nearly empty fridge on the way back. However, if not the best it was the cheapest place we'd eaten. After that we walked to another really beautiful little bay full of sailing boats at anchor. We got talking to a fisherman and asked where we could buy good fresh fish to BBQ back at the apartment, but he said it was illegal for fishermen to sell their catch to restaurants without a licence and only the ...

... dolphin pod. Then she said the dolphins were swimming towards an area we did not want to go towards, so we left them and went to one of the biggest islands in the bay. On the way, some of the passengers were not doing so well. I felt really bad when the dolphins were playing around, but got it under control. Others didn't. Before we left, one of the mates on the boat said that they never have to use sick bags. Well, they did on ...

... to enjoy time outside on the patio with our steak and a nice white wine. The next morning we awoke to fairly decent weather, and the much anticipated dolphin sail was a go. Both Paul and I have always wanted to swim with wild dolphins, so we were really looking forward to the chance promoted in the Bay of Islands brochures. We stopped for a coffee on the way to the boat, then soon boarded and got a prime seat on the Carino Sail and Dolphin ...

Well upon picking up the Spaceship (which is hilarious - literally is sleeping in the boot of a car - and is bright orange so you cannot miss it) and leaving Auckland we went North up to the Bay of Islands - it quickly became apparent that the Romans were not involved in the road building and that signposting for some of the more 'off the beaten track' could be somewhat sketchy. Was surprised to see the cows outnumbered the sheep!! But the landscape was beautiful ...

... nice and sunny though we could do without the wind. It does rain ocationaly but not that often and not for that long. After we ate lunch along the warf we paid a visit to the information centers. We can go see the Bay of Islands, take a boat out to see the dolfins, go up into the mountains for a nice hike, visit the mawii treaty house which may or maynot include viewing mawii dancing, browse the small town for good ...

... and through spectacular forrestry with ferns and fern trees blended in with the more typical woodland trees. The Kaori trees are the oldest trees in New Zealand and one - the 1000 year old tree is apparently 5m wide. We stopped and took a walk and photos from a lookout. The hut which you were supposed to see from was closed and so we had to wander to a clearing where we could actually see and take a picture of the forrest from a distance. Continued driving, but ...

... and did some impressive acrobatics. We decided to go and camp at Ngawha Ginn Springs which was inland, but it had eight hot mineral pools there where we could have a long soak. The pools were lovely all different temperatures with differing minerals, the only downside was listening to some local lads talking about the best way to slaughter animals!!

... There aren't many left anymore compared to the massive forests that were once there but those few are worth a look. There are still enough to call it a forest. The photos don't show the size of the trees at all, they are HUGE. <br><br>We reached Cape Reinga, the northernmost tip of NZ in the evening. This is where Tasmanian Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, it has a small light house in the top and was covered in the thickest pea soup fog. Marvellous place, really felt like land's end ...