Pawhaoa Bay Lodge North Island

Finally got out of the big city and to the coastal town of Pahia in the Bay of Islands. Kicked it at the beach and did a little swimming. Salt water really is a great thing for dreads, you can kinda just roll the salt right into it, I know it sounds kinda dirty but in my opinion my dreads have never looked better, there not greasy or anything like that. Went to a BBQ here at the hostel with Yohan, yea hes from Sweden, met a couple of lovely ...

... a strong history behind it as New Zealnd was colonised from the top down by succesiive migrations from Polynesia and a strong Maori presence remains today. We headed further north along the coast 50km to our overnight stop at Waipu Cove. Apparently, generations of Kiwi kids have gigled over the name 'Waipu' (Imodium missed a golden opportunity by failing to adopt it as their brand name in New Zealand). The campsite was on the beach front ...

... huge sand dunes. We had a walk along the beach and the dunes until it started to rain again!! The campsite we decided to stay on was right near the beach we had dinner and decided to have a game of table tennis run around which was great fun I had to go to the toilet for laughing too much!!!!! On this trip so far we have discovered that New Zealands main roads are very hilly and twisty with only motorways in the main city. We have also ...

... and other staff members had a great knowledge of the events and history of the different islands - from Captain Cook to Murder mayhem. We got to see dolphins 3 times throughout the trip. There wasn't any swimming with them however as there were babies within the group and well they don't act so kindly when in protection mode. It was fascinating seeing the behaviour of the dolphins in their different roles/stages of life - from the young who stayed close to their ...

... poca de l'any-, però aconseguim navegar durant el camí de tornada. El matí serà ennuvolat i la tarda farà molt de sol. Sortirem puntuals cap a un golf on hi ha dofins.... són grossíssims! N'aconseguim veure uns 5 que neden amunt i avall... són molt amigables... Després ens aturarem a una illa al mig de la badia on podrem gaudir d'una vista panoràmica increïble dels illots dels voltants. Alguns faran kaiak, altres aprofitaran per fer xip-xap, altres ...

... stop at the Hundertwasser Loo (a famous Austrian born artist and eco-architect, and his toilet - in Kawakawa - is the most photographed toilet in New Zealand!) made it to our base for the next two days, in Pahia. Our backpackers had a nautical theme right down to the name, Cap'n Bob and we managed to secure the prime room looking out to sea. Exploring the town we heard the call of approaching triumphant fishing vessels. Much ...

... and the Maori tribes from around the island signed a treaty to found the nation and create a government. We didn't plan on visiting because we knew there would be a steep fee ($20NZD), but a nice couple from our hostel had purchased a two-day pass and passed it on to us for a free entry! The Treaty Grounds were in a beautiful area high on a hill overlooking the Bay. There were Pohutukawa trees blooming red and beautiful blue waters. The ...

... do this but the scouser recommended against it as the conditions were a little rough, and they hadn't been all that successful with recent groups, which is why we decided to just do the cruise, apparent Kaikoura in the south is a little better. We had still hoped to see one of the pods because they do play in the wash of the cruise ships but we weren't that lucky. Our final port of call was the Hole in the Rock off Cape Brett. There are hundreds of places like ...

... the office said it was too late to call them back :( Gutted! I'd really wanted to do that trip! (Hopefully this was the bad thing that would happen to me!) I booked for the speedboat trip round the Bay of Islands at 10:30am and wandered around the town. I'd woken up with a sore throat and cough so I popped into the pharmacy and got some throat sweets. I moved my car and paid for the next couple of hours parking and went to meet the boat. When I got there, they said ...

... and mango pavlova for desert. It was a little sad to know our week of `holidaying´ at the hotel was coming to an end but we still had two days before we said goodbye to Tony. The following morning after packing we said our goodbyes to Connie and Malcom and made our way down to Orewa (just north of Auckland on the east coast for the night). We stopped off for lunch on the way and arrived into Orewa mid afternoon. After checking into a motel we made the most of the sun lying on the ...