Bay of Islands, North Island NZ
Boarding the Kiwi Experience bus at 7am on Wednesday 3rd
July with Flea the driver was wonderful. She was very cheery and enthusiastic and
gave amusing commentary on the way to the Bay. Such as when the bridge we were
driving on re-opened 2 years before, after two additional lanes (imported from
Japan) had been added on with ‘nipple clamps’, there was a 4 hour traffic jam
because so many JAFA’s[1]
were that excited about the new road they all had to have a go on it. On the
bus I met Mhairi (pronounced marry) and Will who had both been to Thailand and
the East Coast of Australia (reduced to
East coast by anyone who had been there, I quickly learnt) and we were all
equally as excited about our next destination. The bus is great, even though it
was a four hour drive there were toilet and snack stops and the scenery was
indescribable, so you will have to wait for some pictures. Usually they pull
over for activities but not on this particular route as there is not much to do
on the way. I got my first taste of ‘the clip board’ as well, where the driver
explains activities and accommodation choices and passes a sheet back so you
can fill it out and they can book you in, so its super simple. But after x
amount of trips and activities you begin to dread the board.
We got to Paihia (Pie here) in the Bay of Islands, where
Flea had grown up, so she drove us around the tiny town telling us the best
walks, activities and pubs to go to, which was really great. The hostel was
another Base hostel called the Ipipi patch and me and Mhairi chose to stay for
4 days instead of 1 as we wanted to go the Cape Reinga at the very top of the
North Island (the kiwi bus has a set route so buses visit an area every few
days in winter instead of every other day). Again, gorgeous scenery where my
words, nor unfortunately my pictures, could do it justice, rolling green hills
to the left and turquoise clear sea to the right, with cheeky little ‘Russell
Island’ across the water.
Me on a rainy day in the Bay
Russell Island
Checked in to the hostel and met our new roommates, 2 girls
from Wisconsin, a girl from Oxford who had come over to visit her sister and 18
year old Sam from the West Country. Unfortunately it had started to rain so we
passed the time with a game of ring of fire, supported by my purchases from Duty
Free. Beth from Base in Auckland popped out of a room as I was walking past,
she had hung around Paihia for a bit but was leaving that day, but it was nice
to bump into her! Some of us went to Russell Island the next day and enjoyed
the scenery and the fancy houses (apparently Richard Branson owns a house
there) and had a nice night in the outdoor hot tub. Got chatting to a guy
called Charlie who was the first to recommend Queenstown whilst it is still ski
season, he was also working for accommodation which intrigued me and my money
saving ways.
On Friday me and Mhairi rose at 7 to get the bus to Cape
Reinga and enjoyed talking with the other passengers. We met German Mike who
had been away for 10 months and an Irish teacher who was travelling for 3
summer months. Our bus driver was a man called Aerial and a cheeky kiwi who was
commentating along the way. We got to the cape where the Tasman Sea meets the
Pacific Ocean and there is nothing but sea to see. We got told some lovely
Maori stories along the way and I am hoping to find a book of them somewhere,
but here is one from the Cape I found.
After this little venture Aerial drove us to the sand dunes
to sand board down them, never really gave this much consideration until he
started to climb to the peak of the dune and my legs felt like they were going
to seize up. It was so steep I felt like I was falling back merely walking up
it so the thought of sliding down it on my tummy with half a surfboard was unconscionable.
But I ended up having such a good time I did it twice, and would definitely do
it again! Here's a picture of Mhairi at the foot of the dunes, look how tiny the people are at the top!
The next day was just good for relaxing and skyping. Sam had
moved on and 2 French boys had moved in. The Lions game was also on that night
so we watched it in the local pub and I enjoyed the victory even if I didn’t
quite understand it. Paihia was beautiful and I think it wold be nice to go back sometime, but I shall go and see the rest of the country first.
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