Compass Points Holiday Studio Karikari Peninsula

... mystischen und beeindruckenden Ort.

Als wir von hi** aus wied** zurueckfuhren und schliessliche bei den Sandduenen beim Te Paki Stream ankamen, war es noch hell. Also entschlossen wir uns - bepackt mit uns**em Sandboard - uns auf die gigantischen Duenen zu wagen. Die Duene stand vor uns wie eine Mau**, steil und hoch. W** schonmal 100m hohe Sandb**ge hochspazi**t ist, weiss, dass das gar nicht so einfach ist, wie es aussieht: Da man 3/4 des Schrittes ...

... with all sorts of fish. During the surface interval we went into the worlds largest sea cave. Down for the second dive along a wall with even more invertibrate life. Tons of nudibrachs and 5-6 different moray species. Saw 2 stingrays and even more fish this time. Simply amazing! Exceeded my expectations. Then a long drive back to karikari, but with some amazing stars this time.!

... Baeume platt gemacht, waehrend es Neuseeland noch gar nicht gab und deshalb die Baeume erhalten blieben. Klingt unlogisch? Finde ich auch. Ich muss das auch noch mal nachlesen. Hauptsache ich habe ein Riesenstueck Bernstein geschenkt bekommen und bin jetzt bernsteinreich. Und ich hatte eine tollen Tag.
Die restlichen Tage in Ahipara habe ich einfach ausgespannt, bevor es am Freitag auf einer 7-stuendigen Fahrt zurueck nach Auckland ging, wo ich nun das Auto loswerden muss..

... in my tent, since I barley have enough room the stretch out diagonally from one corner to the other. Slept in till about 10 am, then packed up and hiked down to the beach. Left my stuff in the bush and had a little jog through the water to really wake me up. Then it was off to find the spot designated as the pick-up point. Seemed like a pretty simple plan, stay on the coast, walk until you hit a harbor and can't walk anymore. Well I thought I had ...

... waren wir bereits auf unserem Weg, ohne Fruehstueck und immer noch muede. Wir sind dann direkt zum Kauri Museum (riesige Baeume) gefahren und haben uns zuerst mal draussen vor dem Van ein schoenes Fruehstueck gezaubert. So gegen 9.15h gingen wir dann ins Museum und verbrachten dort ca. 2 Stunden. War echt schoen und interessant. Aus den Kauri Baeumen wurden sehr viele Dinge hergestellt, unter anderem Moebel und Faesser, Skulpturen, Wanduhren und vieles ...

... much else, exposed on one of them - see the photo. Part-way along the Beach the bus headed inland, up a stream bed which was flanked on one side by massive sand dunes, which we used for a spot of dune boarding. This involved: hiking about 100 metres up the dune with boogy board (short surf board) under arm; recovering from mild exhaustion at the top; and lying chest down on the board and letting yourself slide pretty fast down the dune using your feet as rudders to keep you ...

... with Israeli guy about to begin degree. * Watched the All blacks beat Australia but not all that convincingly, I was also trying to explain the rules to the Israeli guy which always makes it seem dull. * Rain and wind arrived in night. Some Better Advice/Not wanting to be a cow: I took advice from the hostel owner on where to go for a walk, with a slight sense of deja vu, he did say there would be some fences to hop over but assured me there would be styles ...

... the door and it turns out it wasn't there after all!!! Greg was like... ah yeh the last people who stayed here must have stolen it to make a copy. honestly... Kiwi's are sooo laid back! Also Lorraine couldn't remember if his name was Greg or Graham. We started winding her up going "Oh, I though it was Craig, Gary, Gavin, Percy". The poor girl was so confused by the time he arrived!!! She was like "hiiiiiii.....". So up he ...

... while farm valleys spread out around us. We reached the small town a kerikeri and decided to go see the stone store. I thought it would be a store that sold stones, stone carvings or stone spoons or something of the like. Instead I learned that it's an old stone house that was one of the first to be built in the town in New Zealand, a house the early settlers used as a store on the bottom level and a house up top. There was also another house next to the stone store that ...

... head to Chile on Tuesday while we head back down to Christchurh to meet my sister Pauline and her hunk of a man Mr. David Hamill! Cant wait for that as it will be four days shy of being exactly a year since I seen them so wil be great. So thats about it people. The NI has'nt got a patch on the SI for scenery but its still really nice. Too many people for my liking so cant wait to get back down south where sheep rule! Peace and good times. Noel & Claire