PineLodge Opua

... noted in our guidebooks and we were curious to find out what made them special enough to be mentioned. What we found were the town's public toilets - which were unlike any others. Apparently they had commissioned Mr. Hundertwasser -- an Austrian immigrant who lived in the area - to turn a stop to do one's business into an art experience! The entire facility - from the outside entrance to the toilet paper holder was decorated in tiles and ...

... ranging from shear cliff faces to white sandy beaches. The colour of the sea is also stunning and very inviting, if a little cold at this time of year, either turquoise or deep marine blue. Following another recommendation from Zinz we took the ferry from Paihia to Russell, a short 15 minute hop across the bay. Russell was one of the first settlements in New Zealand by westerners and became renowned as a centre for debauchery as it was an ideal spot for ...

We arive back in Paihia for the evening so once again im not going to camp as lazynes has set in in a big way. We spent the evening playing cards, watching films, drinking wine and generally chilling out. It was so good I spent nearly all day doing that today as well! The only thing I did was cycle with the others to a ...

... it against the profile from the police, it did look to be a very close match. A few phone calls later and the police were informed, however they seemed to be fairly disinterested, even though we had a photo. We left it for the night, however Malcom said he would contact the police again the follwoing morning when he got to work. The next morning after a lazy start we headed down to Pahia for a spot of lunch on the beach and with the hope of going out fishing in the afternoon. We ...

Richard drove the west coast route today (SH 12) entirely by himself as I was suffering from a headache. It was a rainy day but we still managed to visit the Kauri Museum at Matakohe, where we seriously underestimated how much time we would spend. It was excellent and the first place I got a proper understanding of gumdigging and ...

... as possible and swept out a few times a day because of all the grass and sand we drag in from our shoes. Dean came back full of the joys, he didn't actually catch any fish but he got loads of bites and apparantly, that's exciting enough. Dean is in heaven here, he has discovered that the beach in front of us is absolutely littered with cockles. He busied himself gathering them up and came back with a big carrier bag full which he boiled to make them open and now he has got ...

Well well.... I thought everything was fine, I had found a great boat, a really nice cluple and I had a good deal with them and then suddenly two weeks ago it all just went away...! As we just were finished and ready to go, they suddenly got some serious problems on the boat so they couldn't go to Fiji now, so they have to wait until next year...!!! So now I'm on a dutch boat, with a really nice family (parents and two boys 6+10) - the only little but was, that ...

... contacted me before. After I had found the two boats, I decidet to go for the danish boat, they are fairly yound, got diving gear and seamed pretty cool - the other boat was a 60 year old couple...! Right now I'm then helping them prepaire their boat, so where ready to go to fiji in about a week. Until now we have painted the whole hull below the waterline and now were fixing all the small stuff. Så er jeg tilbage i Paihia ...

... Although I wasn't going to be doing set hours (the lessons come about as the bookings come in) compared to the Cabbage Tree, I thought that spending the summer teaching sailing in the sun in the Bay of Islands was ultimately more appealing than working in retail. So I've now completed my second set of lessons and have my first pay check - HOORAY!!! Appart from being out on the water most days, Beccy and I went down to Auckland last Monday and Tuesday to ...

Hi all, We are nicely settled into the marina in Opua and are getting things organised for Christmas and the New Year. Dad and Sophie are planning another charter in April to get some cash together. The plan is to host another 6 month, all-inclusive adventure holiday from Auckland to Cairns, north-east coast Australia. The voyage will pass through Tonga, Fiji ...