Pacific Rendezvous Whangarei

... b r><br>The following morning we eventually got<br>ourselves together, said our goodbyes and headed to Auckland centre<br>to go souvenir shopping. It was then off to the airport to drop the<br>car off at the airport. This timre was got thruogh pass port control<br>without any hassel.. or more worryingly, bags been weighed! This was<br>to be a 12 hour flight to LA!<br><br>We left shortly after 9pm, crossing the<br>time zone, landing in LA at 2.05pm the same day! As ...

... from the air you could see the area's magical beauty. Scottish, but oh so English sounding Dan and I met on the Heli-hike in Franz and somehow I managed to convince him that I was a necessary addition to his North Island road trip....I could see the pound signs halving in front of his eyes as he realised we were on similar schedules ;o) So, after a few more days in Nelson we hopped on over to Wellington, where we partied hard to an amazing live band in an Irish bar ...

... nb: just phoned Quantas and been told that currently my flight on Sunday is cancelled) This morning, we've driven round the bays; staggeringly beautiful, and surprisingly housing New Zealand's one and only oil terminal; it even seems to have beaches. Well, at least the workers can look out on this gorgeous scenery in between discharging the oil. The roads are narrow and (mainly) tarmac and certainly not fit ...

Saturday 4 October Poor Knights S 35° 27.3' E 174° 44.6' And Whangarei S 35° 42.7' E 174° 19.7' At the dive shop bright and early, well early anyway. Was pleased to be issued with a decent wetsuit, as the water temperature was 15° (but pretty soon decided that I wished I'd brought my dry suit). There were about twenty of us on a decent sized boat out to the famous Poor Knights. (So named, apparently ...

... the s******s. I see a shadow approaching and junp out yelling "Rarrrrrrr"... poor Noah nearly scalded him slef with all the coffee on the tray. oh how embarrassing. Like, we barely know the guy, camped out in his gaff, and then nearly gave him a heart attack and third degree burns into the mix. He was still v**y gentlemanly (word??) about it but we finished our coffees and scuttled out...

... room, living room and king-size bedroom for $169.00 NZ per night ($117 US). Two nights, please. Then, a very late lunch at Sally's on the Bay of Islands and a bottle of Roaring Meg (appropriate, don't you think?) Savignon Blanc from Marlborough, NZ. Last evening's bottle of Pencarrow Pinot Noir from Martinborough, NZ, was recommended by Kai Schubert of the Schubert Winery, also in Martinborough, who we met at the Hyatt. Two nice wines to be sure.

Griass eich! 05/05/2008 Heute in einem Monat sind wir schon wieder zu Hause! ma, die Zeit vergehts.. wir freun uns schon wieder auf zu hause, aber die restliche Zeit geniessen wir trotzdem, oder gerade deswegen! :) Wir wollten heute die Bay of Islands erkunden, aber das Wetter spielt leider nicht mit. Wir hatten trotzdem einen schoenen Tag in Paihia. Und das "Friedensreich Hundertwasser - Klo" in Kawakawa konnten wir uns auch ...

... om weer terug in het dorp te komen.... De bus terug zou nog zeker een uur op zich laten wachten, dus ik vervolgde mijn weg en volgde opnieuw een route langs de rivier. Groen groen groen, overal waar ik keek. Varens, in alle soorten en maten. Ook aan deze track kwam een eind, topen ik de rivier over moest steken via de brug. Een pad omhoog leidde naar de grote weg, maar opnieuw nergens toiletten te zien.... (de bosjes waren door alle joggers en honden ook ...

... we could afford to drive away today when we happened upon a company called 'Spaceships'. We went in and a nice English chap from Kent dealt with us. At first he said he didn't have a vehicle for today but as we started to leave, he stopped us and said there might be one but he wouldn't know for an hour or so because his boss was in a meeting. I gave him my mobile number as he offered us an incredibly competitive quote with freebies thrown in. We then went next door to ...

... the minimum size for what constitutes a &#8220;food court&#8221;, but if there is, then the single McDonalds, Muffin Break and solitary sandwich shop which was sign posted as the food court in the centre of town must be classified as borderline. But what Whangarei lacks in communal shopping arcade eating areas it more than makes up for in waterfalls &#8211; the impressive Whangarei Falls on the edge of town would make the ...