For out trip back to Auckland we had a new driver, Lefty, and I was actually booked on the bus for once. Lefty was good fun and jokey, so was a good ride. First stop was a random village which had some crazy kids show being filmed in it and Kelly, Kirsty, Sarah and I got some breakfast in a harbour side cafe. Next stop was Opononi and to watch an informative and totally hilarious video about Opo the gay dolphin, that played with residents for a year in the 50s. Took photos of Opos grave and statue, was fantastic.
After bidding farewell to Sarah, who was to do the amazing footprints night-time forest walk, we had a photo op just outside Opononi. We got the Waipana Forest and it was really wet, but we still visited the HUGE tree called Tare Mahuta, named after a story where some guy had to hold his mother (the earth) and his father (the sky) apart. After an incident involving the ordering of drinks, I was named Diet Coke by Lefty and his trainee driver Brian. We then became the cool kids on the bus...
On the next driving stint we played the now classic game of "Hey Cow" which only Kirsty and me volunteered for and consisted of shouting "Hey Cow" at a field of cows and who ever gets the most cows to look at them wins. Excellent fun. Before arriving at our next destination we drove through a very "inbred" town and Left dedicated the classic banjo yokel song to me. At Matukohe, Kirsty and I went into the awesome Pioneer Museum, with working wood processing machinery and reconstructions of houses in the 1800s.
Unfortunately, we had very little time there and our next stop was the city of Auckland, where the hostel were busy and the "fat camel" was our only sensible option. We agreed to meet the drivers in the bar at 8 and then wandered around town (mainly for Starbucks) with Kelly;s friend Lisa (essex).
Using various bouts of cunning, we acquired a table in the bar and had a few drinks. We met our driver for tomorrow, Luke, who was vastly insane and crazy. Met a few more randoms,as well as the bus drivers from today, and played a few drinking games. At some point we met a kid who had loads of free doughnuts, which Luke ate most of and we got some burgers as well. Great night and good fun.
Showing posts with label Bay of Islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bay of Islands. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Saturday, 1 March 2008
1st March 2008
Today, Sarah, Ashley, Kelly and I went to Cape Reinga, though I nearly didn't as Glen failed to book me on it due to a mix up with dates. Weather was awful, and our first stop was a random Kauri forest which was apparently owned by the crown (i.e. The Queen). This meant when the queen came over, she wanted to see her trees, so they had to hurriedly build a walkway and lay a red carpet down. Obviously, there's no red carpet now, but we trudged around the magnificent trees, Sarah in her crazy white poncho.
Our next stop was at Taipa Bay to grab some food and take in the wet and windy view. I got some crazy awesome breakfast sarnie quite cheap and took some obligatory photos. After a bit more of a drive we arrived at the 90 mile beach, which we promptly drove along. It's actually only 60 miles long, due to guestimates, and is actually a classified highway. Which makes it the oldest highway in the world, as well as the newest (as its resurfaced every day). How we laughed. Bus coped with it fine as long as it drove on the hard wet sand. We stopped for a photo op. and it was mad windy. Then carried on towards the sand dunes, I had a great view the entire time as I was right at the front of the bus. To get to dunes we drove through what was basically a river running into the sea, crazy stuff. Piled out and scaled a huge dune, which had a raging swirling twisting wind on top, that DROVE sand in your skin, eyes, nose, ears, mouth etc. Quite painful. The sand boarding itself was only just worth it, but great fun, even though I was crap and screwed up the steering, resulting in a double 360 spin on the way down, crazy stuff. Another bus driver could go down so fast that he aqua-planed across the river at the bottom without getting wet! He was mad though.
After getting rid of as much sand as possible we carried on towards the end of New Zealand and Cape Reinga. The roads were so muddy and just dirt tracks that the driver managed to drift the 11.5 metre bus at one point! Great Fun. Once we got there, we took the incredibly muddy and windy walk to the lighthouse in Jandals. Kelly and I totally lost ours at various points and just walked bare foot in the end. By the lighthouse it was nice but felt like we were gonna be blown away and it seemed like some of the metal signposts point to international cities had been blown off! Crazy. We only just got back to the bus in time because of more Jandal issues.
On the way back we stopped at Kauri Kingdom, which is basically a big Kauri tree souvenir shop. Once we got back I just chilled and finished 1984 by George Orwell, great book. Read it if you can.
Our next stop was at Taipa Bay to grab some food and take in the wet and windy view. I got some crazy awesome breakfast sarnie quite cheap and took some obligatory photos. After a bit more of a drive we arrived at the 90 mile beach, which we promptly drove along. It's actually only 60 miles long, due to guestimates, and is actually a classified highway. Which makes it the oldest highway in the world, as well as the newest (as its resurfaced every day). How we laughed. Bus coped with it fine as long as it drove on the hard wet sand. We stopped for a photo op. and it was mad windy. Then carried on towards the sand dunes, I had a great view the entire time as I was right at the front of the bus. To get to dunes we drove through what was basically a river running into the sea, crazy stuff. Piled out and scaled a huge dune, which had a raging swirling twisting wind on top, that DROVE sand in your skin, eyes, nose, ears, mouth etc. Quite painful. The sand boarding itself was only just worth it, but great fun, even though I was crap and screwed up the steering, resulting in a double 360 spin on the way down, crazy stuff. Another bus driver could go down so fast that he aqua-planed across the river at the bottom without getting wet! He was mad though.
After getting rid of as much sand as possible we carried on towards the end of New Zealand and Cape Reinga. The roads were so muddy and just dirt tracks that the driver managed to drift the 11.5 metre bus at one point! Great Fun. Once we got there, we took the incredibly muddy and windy walk to the lighthouse in Jandals. Kelly and I totally lost ours at various points and just walked bare foot in the end. By the lighthouse it was nice but felt like we were gonna be blown away and it seemed like some of the metal signposts point to international cities had been blown off! Crazy. We only just got back to the bus in time because of more Jandal issues.
On the way back we stopped at Kauri Kingdom, which is basically a big Kauri tree souvenir shop. Once we got back I just chilled and finished 1984 by George Orwell, great book. Read it if you can.
Friday, 29 February 2008
29th February 2008
First day of my magic super duper extreme New Zealand tour. Bus pick up was at 7.30, or something equally far too early. Met a girl called Kirsty while waiting and got chatting, she's from Reading. Our first stop on the way to the Bay of Islands was Sheep World, where Kirsty and I went straight in as it looked mega awesome. No one else went in, and it turns out Glen, the drive, told them it was shut because he's grumpy or something!
Had much humour in there though, utilising a 2 for 1 voucher and getting a bag of food, we played with sheep, goats, pigs, llama type creatures, ponies and a deer. Luckily, I've over come my childhood fear of all farm related animals, apart from maybe the crazy nasty pecky chickens.
Our only other stop was at Waitong, for a photo op. and we made it into Paihia at around 12.30. As we had the afternoon free, Kirsty, a girl called Sarah (england), a Canadian lady called Joanne and I decided to go on a cruise in the harbour that goes dolphin watching and through the "hole in the rock". Although we failed to see dolphins, was still good fun, the hole is pretty crazy and we decided to get dropped off in a quaint village across the bay called Russell (Sausalito/Devonport stylee). Kirsty, Sarah and I relaxed in a cafe with soem coffee/beer/wine and then visited the first church built in New Zealand. After playing on the beach for a while, watching a really cute puppy, we got the mega fast ferry back to the main town.
In the evening we all had booked a bbq, which was quite nice and then sat and drank for a while with Glen. Later on we moved to a more upbeat bar (Me, Kirsty, Glen, Kelly(England) and some guy called Craig) Was a good night, though Glen was a bit odd and suspicious. NZ beer was quite nice, though a waitress walked right into me and bounced off quite well.
Had much humour in there though, utilising a 2 for 1 voucher and getting a bag of food, we played with sheep, goats, pigs, llama type creatures, ponies and a deer. Luckily, I've over come my childhood fear of all farm related animals, apart from maybe the crazy nasty pecky chickens.
Our only other stop was at Waitong, for a photo op. and we made it into Paihia at around 12.30. As we had the afternoon free, Kirsty, a girl called Sarah (england), a Canadian lady called Joanne and I decided to go on a cruise in the harbour that goes dolphin watching and through the "hole in the rock". Although we failed to see dolphins, was still good fun, the hole is pretty crazy and we decided to get dropped off in a quaint village across the bay called Russell (Sausalito/Devonport stylee). Kirsty, Sarah and I relaxed in a cafe with soem coffee/beer/wine and then visited the first church built in New Zealand. After playing on the beach for a while, watching a really cute puppy, we got the mega fast ferry back to the main town.
In the evening we all had booked a bbq, which was quite nice and then sat and drank for a while with Glen. Later on we moved to a more upbeat bar (Me, Kirsty, Glen, Kelly(England) and some guy called Craig) Was a good night, though Glen was a bit odd and suspicious. NZ beer was quite nice, though a waitress walked right into me and bounced off quite well.
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