WEEK THREE, DRINKING, DANCING, DINING!
Trip Start
Mar 14, 2007
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3
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Trip End
Jan 16, 2008
Paihia, North Island, New Zealand
Thursday, April 5, 2007
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 & 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 of Auckland, which was lovely and reminded me of home. All crashing waves and rocks and windy and lots of gannet birds and a beautiful sunset, proper bo!! We then drove out to the sticks and visited one of Brians mates and I got my first taste of New Zealand hospitality and home life. When I arrived the folks were watching the rugby and were cooking a "boil up", which is NZ stew made with lamb and sweet potatoe, the staples of any NZ diet
Neil Me Brain
! So we were fed with this boil up and bread smothered two inches thick in butter, I hate butter!! The boil up was interesting to say the least, very VERY oily and strong lamb flavour! No anybody who knows me will know that I cant hide my face or feelings very well when I am eating something that I dont like! I was really struggling to put this food down and to hold it down! Brian said my face was a picture! So after dinner I made our excuses and left in a hurry before they brought out dessert!!Saturday night I decided to go out in Auckland and downed a bottle of red wine before I left, bloody bad idea, I ended up in a gay bar dancing on a pool table trying to compete with the drag act on the stage! Dont remember much after that but I made the obligitary random drunken phone calls, whilst lying in the corridor of Brains apartment block in my underware!! And just to top off the humiliation I was sick, everywhere!! Im never drinking again, promise!!
So Sunday was spent all day in bed in my pj´s appoligising to people!
Monday I went to pick up Fran but alas to finish off my disaster of a weekend she had been towed and I had to pay $200 to get her back
Muriwai Beach
! By this stage I was ready to drive Fran off a cliff and come straight home! But instead I just shook it off as bad luck and set off on my travels again. I headed up the East coast of the North Island via the Twin Coast Discovery Highway. Drove along the Hibiscus Coast to Whangarei then on to Paihia where I parked up and watched the sunset over the Bay of Islands and the Pacific Ocean! Tuesday got up nice and early and drove to see another water fall Haruru Falls, it was all brown water and I later learned that it was from a broken sewage pipe because of all the fllods in the Northland area from the week before, nice!
Then I reached Doubtless Bay and stopped off on some lovely empty beaches where I chilled out and relaxed! Lovely stuff! Then a few dirt roads, and a dodgy bridge which I nearly crashed into, I reached Matai Bay. It was an amazing secluded golden sand bay with a few fishermen and great views! This is what New Zealand is all about! I was finally happy and getting sunburnt, so back to Fran and off to the top of New Zealand to a place called Spirits Bay. I walked through some lovely soft grass and when i got over a little hill my heart stopped and the biggest smile ever came across my face. I had the end of the world in front of me, nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see and then 7km of golden sand around me, with not one person on it apart from me
Hunderwasser Toilets
. So I kicked off my flip flops and ran in to the sea and splashed around like a kid and took lots of photos and decided that this was the best thing about New Zealand so far and by far! I had to drag myself away from Spirits Bay to get headed to the furthers point North in New Zealand which is Cape Reinga. This is basically just a little bit of land high up on the cliffs with a light house, but below the cliff is the most stunning views of golden postcard beaches and the crashing swirlling waves where the Pacific Ocean colides with the Tasman Sea. It was well cool looking!
On the way back I picked up to Hitchers, a Canadian couple who stank to high heaven of b.o and garlic. They were eating raw cloves of garlic and in return for the lift they offered me some along with some dried Apricots! Cheers, but petrol money would have helped more! Im never picking up hitch hikers again. I couldnt get rid of them! I had to check in to a campsite just to get them out of my van and get away from the smell!!
So Wednesday was a land mark day, day 14 on the road, the end of my second week! I cannot believe that I have only been on the road two weeks, feels like two months
Spirits Bay
! Anyways, bloody hitchers where still hanging around so I dropped them off and made my way to Kawakawa to view the public toilets designed by the reclusive Austrian emigre Friedrich Hundertwasser. They were very pretty all made out of broken tiles, coloured bottles and stuff he found lying around! After that I went to Waitangi and visited the grounds where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the English and Maori in 1840. Im trying to learn the history and culture of the Maori and the land whilst im here but all these historic places are very boring and dull!! But I managed to sneak into the house without paying so that was a bonus! So back to Paihia where I boarded an old car ferry for an overnight cruise of the Bay of Islands, which was awesome.
http://www.rocktheboat.co.nz/
We were anchored out in the bay and saw the most amazing sunset, the sun looked like it was shining up from the Earth, it was stunning, then there was a shooting compitition, but I was too busy watching the sunset to take part, then we began fishing for Red Snapper for a dinner, I waited for ages and was one of the last in but alas I caught nothing, not even a nibble! So after our bbq dinner it was out on to the Pacific for some night kayaking and star gazing and then the real brave could go for a moonlight swim! And I was one of the brave ones! At least I pretended to be brave but I was sh*tting myself! Kept expecting Jaws or some crazed eels to come along and eat me or something!! But I survived and got back on board for a well earned cup of tea by the log fire before heading off to my bunk to the sound of the waves and kiwis and dolphins! Pure heaven! What a great way to end my second week!!
