Bali Hai Motel Paihia

... aber der bus fuhr, genau einer dieser momente an denen man gerne ganz alleine oder mit gleichgesinnten freunden reisen würde... nicht weiter tragisch, das nächste hochlicht wartete in form von sanddünen, welche wir auf bodybords runter rutschten. klein sh-air.E rannte als einziger viermal den berg hoch. zuerst eine testfahrt auf dem bauch, dann die zweite vollgas immernoch auf dem bauch mit halt vor dem fluss, die dritte fahrt dann auf den knien mit ...

... bed and went back asleep. It was a fairly non eventful day but we had a trip booked the next day so it was good to have an early night. Our pick up on Tuesday morning was at 7am. The bus headed off to the northern most tip of NZ, Cape Reinga. We had a quick breakfast stop at a small bakery where I ate my first pie. It was delicious! Can't believe I've been missing out all this time. Then we drove to the coast to get to the giant sand dunes. It was sand boarding time. We all took a ...

... industry centred around trips out to sea this is quite bad news! In the absence of further entertainment, we took a walk out along the beach pondering if in it's current state Paihia beach was more like Blackpool or Skegness before relaxing in our room and getting ready for the 'Kiwi BBQ' at the Pipi Patch hostel that was our home for the night. Pipi Patch is every part the quintessential backpacker spot and in the evening after the very tasty BBQ ...

... beautiful village and was the site of the original capital of NZ ( briefly). Tuesday morning we went fishing on a hot sunny day before going back to Auckland before our departure for Australia. The fishing was not very productive with only small snappers being caught but it didn't affect our enjoyment, we had seen lots of fish in beautiful surroundings the day before. Then off to Auckland in the only traffic we had seen in NZ, a slow journey with lots of roadworks.

... So as I say, on the downside, I burnt again today, but it was definitely worth it. The nice man at Awesome NZ said there was bags of room for me on the boat trip, so Lisa, Laura and I headed out to see the dolphins, and the islands, and the rocks and all the rest of it. They wanted to swim with the dolphins, which I was in two minds about, but decided ultimately not to, and after seeing the result, am sort of glad about ...

Labor Day Weekend So our first public holiday in NZ came along so we decided to make the most of it and hire a car and head up North. We had decided to head to the Bay of Islands and so we set off for our base which would be Paihia with a pitstop in Whangarei on the way up there. We arrived on the beautiful town of Paihia late in the afternoon although the sun was still shining and it was lovely. After checking in to our rather nice accommodation on the outskirts of town, we ...

... treaty grounds is our must see place of the day. The site is very well presented and the audio visual we watch before looking around explains the significance of the signing of the treaty in 1840 between the consul Capt Hobson and the Maori chiefs. We saw a facsimile of the treaty, the house of Capt Hobson and the Maori Marae (meeting house) also a huge wooden war canoe made from the Kauri Tree. The huge ...

... town beneath. I'd made it quite high up and the view was worth it, although someone hadn't trimmed the trees for a while and I had to stand on the bench to get a good shot. I sat up the top for a while, filled in the ol' jounral and just absorbed the peaceful atmosphere. I think this was a perfect day to end my last propper day in New Zealand, surrounded by the beauty of it's nature. Now it's just back to Auckland and off to the airport - destintation: Fiji!

Our second last location - prior to reaching Auckland and dropping our motorcycles we headed as much north as possible, not really knowing what to expect since I had not really prepared a lot for the North Island. In retrospect I regret the fact that I focused a lot during my preparation on the South Island and only spend little time on the North Island. Fact is that the North Island offers far better ...

... etait tres etroit, on s'est pose la question de savoir si nous devions tenter le risque ou pas. Apres nos aventures dans le canyon aux Etats Unis, on voulait eviter tout probleme. Mais au final tout s'est bien passe, le chemin etait tout aussi etroit qu'une autoroute a 3 voies! <br><br><br><br>Nous nous sommes arretes un peu lors de notre descente sur la plage '90 miles beach'. Contrairement a ce que le nom indique, la plage ne fait pas 90 miles mais 90 kilometres. Quoi qu'il en ...