Pukematu Lodge Russell

... nobody shows up! So I try calling a few times and no luck. So I find the one and only internet cafe and quickly send them an email letting them know i've arrived and hopefully to meet them tomorrow. It then turns out that the guy from the cafe is Dutch and when he finds out that I intend to spend the night in a hostel he offers for me to stay with him and his wife. A really sweet offer and as this is NZ also safe lol. So suddenly I find myself in NZ ...

... was a nice change and gave Mac the opportunity to show off his natural sailing abilities. Mable even had a go at sailing , although the captain did have to get her to aim away from some rocks and remind her of the correct direction of the harbour, women eh, makes you wounder how Hey-Ho Flint ever managed? Mac had a go at snorkelling and collected many fine shells for Mable. It turned out that stingrays lived in the area Mac was diving in ...

... oder anderst gesagt sie wurden einach schwach!! Anschliessend fuhren wir auf eine der Inseln, von der wir fantastische Aussicht hatten. Dann wurde es almaehlich dunkel und wir brachen auf Zurueck. Auf dem Weg zurueck brach dann eine gewaltige Wasserschlacht aus. Also ums kurz zu sagen: In einem der Boote waren 2 Frauen, die normalerweise als Captian bei der US Armee im Irak stationiert sind ...

... a long story short, we couldn't get there (easily), but managed to get the tickets transferred to the next evening. Always flexible, we relaxed in the hot tub for half an hour with a glass of wine. If only I'd known how they worked, then I could have used the one at Aspen Manor at Hamilton when I was there for two weeks! But I was very wrinkly when I emerged, but that's a cheap price to pay for a very pleasant ...

... half way (it was good). * I cycled, it was quite alot of uphill, so hopefully this burnt off some of the eggs on toast. * I'm staying at the YHA which is OK but a bit small and they don't have my tax code which was sent to them. * Signed up for day sail tomorrow * Chilled. Random observation: Cycling you see a lot of road kill, in various states of laying, smeared, mashed or spread on the roads, this ...

... and the place sometimes worrying (like in David Lynch's films). So we walked around and enjoyed the hostel, very cosy and with a great fire! And the following day, to Cape Reinga, the northest point in the country (not really). We crossed the 90 miles beach (not that long) with the bus, so wild and amazing place! we ate fish and chips and visited Puketi Kauri forest where you can see huge trees (everything here is so big!). A good begining for an amazing country...

... England. He moved to another cove and said that a ship sank here a few months ago. He then told everyone that I had a plane to catch and that we couldn't be too long, god how embarrassing! I told him what time I had to be there and he was like oh we've got plenty of time! I love how the Kiwis are so laid back and informal. We sped round lots more islands and then headed back to Paihia. Once we docked, the skipper carried my bags up to the office. He was really sweet ...

... came and dragged the car out with his own. Rather amusing but the guy I´m convinced found it less than funny. We finally stopped for a late lunch at a cafe high up in the hills overlooking the Bay of Islands, however the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was fairly misty. The food was exellent however and there was an art gallery next door which was lovely to have a look around. We then made our way into the small town of Russell and after a little walk along the front ...

... Cape Reinga tour guide missing half his teeth and almost lost several of his toes at some point, 19-year-old English guys that want to 'take a spin on the crutches,' and lots and lots of Germans, some a bit over-bearing as to how exactly I should take care of my ankle! I have the day to myself to just think, read, swim and watch the waves roll in, so I'm going to go do just that! hugs, Andrea

... with an indentation for your buttocks! <br><br>Once back on board we enjoyed a simple lunch while we sailed off into the main bay. It had clouded over a lot, so we thought that might be all the sun we were going to get today. <br><br><br><br>An hour or so later we turned around and headed back to port, and we were very ...