North island can be as stunning as the south

Trip Start Aug 14, 2008
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Trip End Sep 25, 2008


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Flag of New Zealand  , North Island,
Sunday, September 14, 2008

Day 195 - Picked up before 8am and was already glad to leave Auckland.  16 on the tour and nearly all girls!  We drove to Mt Edna, which is a scared, extinct volcano which was superb panoramic views of the city, inclduing a sight of both the east and west coast of the island.  As sea kayaking in Hahei was off due to the weather, we instead stopped at Marina hot spa, which is the biggest hot spring in the southern hemisphere and got to enjoy floating about in the hot water in the cold weather.

We continued east and stopped at Thames, (the river running throuhg it looks like the Thames in London according to Captain Cook - that is it's big and dirty).  We then stopped and hugged some kaui trees for maori traditions and later at a viewpoint on the coast.

Hahei is a small town consisting of mostly dormant holiday houses on the east coast.  The accommodation is a lot like Old mac Donalds farm in Abel Tasman - small and exclusive.  In the afternoon the sun came out and a group of us walked to Cathedral Cove and foud the coastal walk absolutely beautiful and rivalling on anything I'd seen on the south island.

Returned to the hostel just before 6pm and Thumper was hard at work with the group barbecue - perfect timing!  The food was yum and the more time I spend with the group, the more I like them - that is until it came to washing up all the bbq dishes - you would not believe the amount of people just sat about watching the rest of us clear up!)  Spent the evening playing cards, in particular the game Sh*thead to the various rules for each of our nationality.  The two Finnish guys also offered us some of their national 'sweets' that are a combination of HCl and NaOH and are quite the opposite of sweet - I had to spit it out!
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