The Retreat Paihia

... brothers (Mike and Dan) that had partied with us in Taupo staying for a few days so that was good to meet up and hang out with them... a bit of familiarity! I've now got a job working for accommodation in another hostel which is really chilled out and yet again I seem to know everyone already!<br><br>Yesterday I went out on a boat trip that takes in as many of the 144 islands here as possible... when we got to the furthest point (the famous hole ...

... and look fantastic. After a couple of hours we headed back to the hostel and took the bus to Auckland at 3pm. We arrived in Auckland at 7pm. J.P., Karen and me checked in. Karen went to meet her friends, J.P and me headed down to the Globe bar. I met Elka again, which was great, After saying goodbye to the group from Paihia, and chatting to Karen's friend Nadine I headed off to bed at 1:30am.<br><br>

... up top to savour the great views of the Bay of Islands, absolutely stunning, with all the islands and green rolling hills in the background. Just lovely and peaceful. Ferry back again, early dinner and now sleep as we are facing a full day tomorrow with start at 7:15 (how will we ever manage after becoming sleepy heads..). We are off to 90 mile beach and Cape Reigna, and the weather will be great so we are really looking forward to it. More from us tomorrow, a good night for now. XX L&amp;M

... It was certainly a bit of a novelty. We stopped briefly at a nice lookout, that our driver claimed tour parties weren't meant to stop at. Feeling hungry, we were glad it was time to get to Mangonui for some apparently world famous fish and chips. We dropped the smaller bus off at a service station/wood carving shop and headed on to get our grub. It was certainly very tasty, but I somehow doubted that this was the best in the world. I mean, come on, England is the center for this surely!

... h*lf buried Cortin* MkII. On the w*y b*ck we stop off *t * quite touristy K*uri workshop cum showroom where there is v*rious t*t to purch*se. Dinner is *t * re*lly nice 'fush *nd chup' pl*ce. We m*ke it b*ck to P*ihi* *t *round 7:30ish just time for * couple of beers before bed. 26/01/09 Bit of * l*zy d*y spent on the be*ch. Bus le*ves P*ihi* *t *bout 4, its * long journey b*ck to Auckl*nd *nd I fin*lly get to my hostel *round 10.

... of the cruise we also stopped briefly to collect and deliver mail to various isolated houses, most of which had a dog (or two) that would run to the boat to greet us, no doubt because the crew gave them each a dog biscuit. For lunch, we stopped off at an idyllic beach setting Otehei Bay on Urupakuka Island, the largest island in the Bay of Islands. Even a young ...

Kerikeri-Paihia (again) Distance - 27.35km, Average speed 19.23km/hr, number of cheese sandwich's stopped for 1. * I left Kerikeri, even though I do think work might have been genuinely going to start tomorrow but like all my idea's 'stopping to pick fruit' was brilliant but I'm over it, I'm a very fickle person (as some of you know well). * I'm back in Paihia (97km just seemed a bit ...

... the gift store, send post cards ( I was only able to send one ), go on the Internet and eat lunch. While walking out of the gift store we passed a sign that said " Tip Top " on it. Mother had told me that this was the name brand of ice cream that New Zealand was famous for. Upon further inspection we discovered they sold the ice cream. Mom got rum &amp; raisin while I ordered a scoop of cookies &amp; cream. We both enjoyed the ice cream ^^. I forgot to ask ...

... at a reasonable speed where the power of the water is forcing the body to move in all directions as everybody tries to hold on for their life as they are constantly battered in the face by the passing waves displaced by the moving boat. After 10 minutes I am glad that the boat grinds to a halt as my arms are now aching from keeping my head above the water, recover my short situations which are dangerously low to exposing everything as well as getting my legs to return to the right ...

GIRL, I WANNA TAKE YOU TO A GAY BAR! So, the week went like this: Friday, drove Fran to the garage and lucky enough she didnt need an Alternator just a new battery which was grand, so got that sorted, progress is being made and me and Fran are getting on a bit better now! Saturday had a look at the Auckland Food &amp; Wine Festival but me and Brian couldn"t find a way to sneak in so we left and went for a drive to Muriwai Beach on the West coast ...