Arapohue House B&B Bay of Islands

... the 4 sisters (4 huge Kauri trees all growing together, they have joined at the base). On our way back we had a downpour of rain and both got drenched.

We headed South, the rain still coming down, and the Sun came out, to provide the most spectacular rainbow. We could actually see the end of the rainbow but it moved away as we got closer! So no treasure unfortunately.

We wanted to ...

A North and A South Island That Make New Zealand

To all who wish to read on,

Greetings! Thank you for checking out my blog. I have been lacking on writing blogs of my adventures, and over the last month neglected writing anything about my experience in New Zealand. So, I have given myself 45 minutes to write all I can about my experience there. It's mostly going to be a summary of events and things I saw or encountered. If you dare to ...

... fortified village).

Then we sailed back to the mainland, passing a number of other islands on the way. The Bay of Islands is made up of 144 islands & is known as the 'birthplace' of the nation.

After the boat trip, we drove to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which comprises of 506 hectares & includes the site where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed on Feb 6th 1840. Rich is resource, the Bay attracted early Polynesian ...

... European settlers we not too kind to indiginous population... Also the NZders are very proud of the bloke that made it to south pole first as he was kiwi... canīt remember his name... girls name like Hillary or something. From CC we drove to lake Tekapo, which is the gateway to Mount Cook, the highest mount in Austrailasia. After chilling with a few beers in the local pizzaria we stumbled into our dorm (one of only 2 nights we had to share) and woke up everyone climbing ...

... all our effort and still at least another hour to go, our guide took pity on our group and pulled us into a beach and called the water taxis, all the other groups out that day also pulled into the beach, I might add. We were pleased, as it had stopped being fun. Turned out though that the water taxi wasn't for us worn out tourists, it was to pick up the kayaks!! We had an hour and a half's walk along the track to get back to the start, meaning what should have been a pretty easy day of ...

... growing on the cliffs of these islands as well as along the cliffs on the mainland. Our guide said that they are called New Zealand Christmas Trees. As we headed back towards Hahei Beach, our guide started to tell us a story about how the first Mauri discovered New Zealand. As he was telling us the story, a Little Blue Penguin swam by in front of our kayaks. The Little Blue Penguin and the Yellow Eyed Penguin are the two species of ...

... to come here. Had breakfast outside at a little diner. Didn't have an NZ dollars and she said I could come back and pay her later. Which is a breath of fresh air to know people still are trustworthy. Also, opened up a bank account. I gave them $600 and they gave me $1100. What a deal. Read the papers and people are very afraid of America's "Buy America" plan ...

... totally knackered and hungry, luckilty we had a few mars bars stashed away! (u never know when a mars bar can come in handy!!). Our room had no window which you wouldn't think would be a problem but it totally disorientates you to time and we woke up pretty late., which then puts you totally out of whack. I think we have learned that you really have to adjust to the time as soon as possible although that is not always easy ...

... tallest Kauri tree, that honour belongs to Tane Mahuta, growing in Waipoua Forest, but it was still good to see these magnificent and old trees. After the forest, we headed up to Ninety Mile Beach, which is not actually 90 miles long, but more like 55 miles. No one is sure why it was so called but the theory the bus driver had was that the farmers used to move their cattle from the top end of the beach to the bottom end of the beach. This would take 3 days ...

... us with wetsuits that went down to elbows and knees to help compensate, it wasn’t quite the same as wearing my own thick steamer covering down to wrists and ankles which I rely on at the beach all year round to keep me toasty. So after we swam back to the cat and I lay on the deck trying to draw the sun's rays in an attempt to warm up, I began to shiver a little bit. In fact, some of the others ...