Aloha Seaview Resort Motel Paihia

... the angle of the boat as it was pushed by the wind was amazing, you felt so stable but so unbalanced at the same time! then, being able to take the wheel and navigate for a chunck of the trip just added even more to the experience! it felt so rewarding to be able to do it and....to top it all of, we climbed to the top of the masts, in among all the strong winds!....i say we, as Harris and Monkey joined me on the trip too, they were far enough down my pocket not to know what was ...

... But to bring the point home, the people who look after Waitangi are currently running an appeal to raise funds to carry out urgent repairs on the treaty house. In the 15 mins or so we were there the desk lady turned away at least 12 people we could count - that's 12 people at $20 each! Surely the answer to some of their financial problems lie right in their own hands?

Anyway, that's it for today. Tomorrow we have an early start and apparently a very full day. Can't wait!

... divers were shouting "over here, over here!" I went under the water and was able to see 3 dolphins!! With one of them actually speaking to the others. When we swam back (after a hard swim) we got dried , both Karen and me were buzzing, it was a surreal, amazing and unforgettable experience.

After the excitement, we went through the hole in the Rock, a small cove in one of the mountains, it was quite good and we got some nice pics. To round off a ...

... island of Mururoa and had come to New Zealand en route to Mururoa, it docked in Auckland harbour and was bombed. The ship sank and one person died, and this of course caused chaos between the French and NZ. The culprits were later tried in a NZ court and sentenced to 10 years but the French arranged for them to do their time on the small French Polyneasian island of Hao. What a way to serve time, and most NZ thought this proposperous ...

... driver introduced himself. After another while of talking he announced' "Now, you're probably all thinking, oh no!, we've got one of those over-enthusiastic bus drivers..." Yep, we really had. It was still early in the morning, the pick up was at 7am. Our first stop was a little random. A walk through a little forrest, we were told we could hug the trees if we wanted a truly Maori experience. The driver then decided to take us straight to the sand-boarding to wake us all up a bit. We ...

... Keri -un xic més al nord- i, després farem una parada a una selva típica NZ. Trobem una gran varietat d'arbres i també veiem uns quants Kaoris. Té una olor especial. Els Kaoris són els arbres principals de NZ, però amb els darrers segles, els homes n'han destrossat un 99%. Actualment només en queda un 1% i s'intenten protegir ja que són arbres centenaris o milenaris... Després anirem cap a "Ninety Mile Beach". El cel està tapat, plovineja. És la platja m ...

... that seeing the dolphins was a chance opportunity in a pretty big body of water Nonetheless, we headed out in quest of the dolphins. The crew was good, and clearly had good contacts. After radio contact, the crew beelined to an area where dolphins were rumored to have been spotted earlier. On the way, we got to enjoy the sights of the islands, which were very pretty , but lacked the white sand beaches and emerald greens that add to the ...

... a twisted bracket. The support for the water tank had somehow come off and scraped along the road. Various bits were well bent - hard to say what was cause and what effect, once it had been dragged along. I wasn't in a safe place, so I backed into the drive of a roadside avocado shop. After some fruitless scrabbling under the jacked-up van, the shop man (I presume, a local ...

... to have a book on all the local buildings in the car, so I had a look through that. He dropped me off by the YHA. I was about to go in there when I noticed the Sea Breeze B&B, which I had read about in the rough guide. I went to the door and there was a man there. He opened the door and let me in. Turns out, he was the owner and was just locking up for the night, it was 9pm. Lucky me eh! He welcomed me in and introduced me to his family. His name was Cafer and his ...

... illusion that I was going to get up in time to make breakfast. Ehhhhh... wrong! I chatted with the clerk for a while. He asked about what was going on outside, I asked about his turban. He seemed pleasant. I was still drunk the next morning, which possibly contributed to me mis-packing my mp3 player; something I worried about all day. It was in my pack, under all my underwear. The trip up to Auckland was uneventfully. I sat next to a couple that I had met on the first stretch of ...