Sunday, August 19

Sunday, August 19

I woke up around 7:30 this morning and let Josh sleep in. I laid on the sofa and enjoyed the fact that the sun was shining outside. When I got hungry, I made myself some cereal and was just about to put my bowl down on the patio table outside when I remembered the dang biting bugs! Inside breakfast again.

I realized we wouldn't be making the 9 am tour and that was okay because we would be able to stay at the apartment until 11. There was another half day tour that departed at 1 pm, however, we didn't want to take that because our hotel this night was located 3 hours south (30-45 minute drive from Auckland).

After getting all our gear packed away and taking some pictures of the exterior of the apartment (ours was the second floor on the left in the first picture), we checked out on time and decided to take a fast boat tour that would only last 1.5 hours but still take in the same sites. We called and tried to book the noon tour, however, there were not enough people signed up so they were not running that tour. The next tour would be at 2.

We decided to wait for the 2 tour and killed some time by grabbing lunch at a local Chinese place. By local, I mean off the beaten path and down a back alley. There was construction scaffolding up everywhere (it's the off season in Paihia so they're probably fixing things up for summer). Luckily, there was no construction noise because it was Sunday. The place looked like it could have been in China!

The sweet and sour chicken I got with rice was really good. Josh and I were sitting outside eating our food with our sandals on. Mistake! The black bugs attacked again and Josh couldn't take it anymore. He walked back to our car to get our shoes out of the trunk. When he returned with my shoes in hand, we were better.

After eating lunch, we drove 10 minutes out of town to view Haruru Falls. The water was really muddy which was understandable considering all the rain they've been experiencing lately. Cool site for a quick visit. We drove back into Paihia and read our Harry Potter books in the car while also taking in the ocean view.
Soon enough, it was time for our Excitor boat tour. Josh and I checked in and paid the fare...using a 10% discount coupon I'd found. We went into a room where we were given waterproof pants and jackets to put on over our regular clothes. We'd asked when we called the company if we'd be getting wet and they said no, not really.

Once we were dressed, we went outside with about 20-25 other tourists. We were given a lesson on our life jackets (the small blue thing we're wearing in our picture) and we were off to the boat. The operators of the boat take everyone's individual picture as they walk down the boardwalk to the boat. Josh and I were some of the last people to board the boat which meant we were stuck in the back. Not too bad of a seat, however, it wouldn't have been our first choice.

The Excitor boat tour was promoted as being really fast which made me kind of nervous. I had no need to worry because although it was faster than the other cruise type boat would have been, it wasn't insanely fast. We rode out to Cape Brett Hole in the Rock area only getting splashed with water a couple of times...but they were big splashes!

We went through the hole twice which was very cool but very intimidating as well. The other cruise boats we saw did not go through the hole so we were happy about our choice. Also, the water wasn't too rough that day, so the boat driver made our boat do a 360 degree turn inside the hole! Pretty cool.

We continued around the rock and went into a cave area that was even smaller than the hole in the rock before heading back to Paihia while stopping to view some of the different islands on the way.

Josh and I were really glad we went on the boat ride and we were so happy to have nice sunny skies. Once on shore, we took off our gear...our butts had somehow managed to get wet from the water...and we walked back to where we'd parked the car.

It was time to depart Paihia and head to Orewa for our night down there (passing by this church as we left town). Because we had much better weather driving down there than we did driving north to Paihia, we were able to see things we couldn't see before like this awesome mountain on the coast.

We stopped in for some Subway dinner and although we were some of the only people in there when we first arrived, it quickly filled up with people who must have been taking a bus tour. It was the oddest experience eating there because when we were the only one's eating one of the workers kept running this dang vacuum cleaner which was so annoying. We also thought it was weird because all the doors were open and ceiling fans were going full blast despite the fact that it is winter! They had free diet coke refills though so we were ultimately happy.

We continued our drive south and found the hotel in Orewa after calling the owner for directions. They had given us a room away from the highway just like I'd requested so that was great. We were just here for one night and although it was a long way from being as flash as the apartment, it was comfortable enough for the $95 price. However, I think if you looked at the flooring in the bathroom and kitchen for too long, you might just go CRAZY from the pattern!

Josh was in the mood for some McDonald's and made the argument that it was the last night of vacation so he was going to get some. They do offer good deals on "after 5" meals here. Notice the size of their "regular" drinks and fries. It's a U.S. small drink and medium fries.

We had SKY movies at this hotel too so we watched some forgettable movie (I couldn't even stay awake for the whole thing) and then Josh came to bed too commenting that sleeping next to a cement block wall reminded him of sleeping in the dorm room-funny!

Saturday, August 18

Saturday, August 18

Josh and I slept in this morning which was good for us and it was a rainy day outside anyway. I made us a breakfast of kiwifruit that we'd bought the day before and cornflakes from the huge box we'd bought the other day. I SUCCESSFULLY MADE PLUNGER COFFEE BY MYSELF!

My coffee success was all because Josh's dad taught me the right way! I brought the breakfast out to the patio for Josh and I to eat outside. It wasn't very long, however, before the little black sand flies were biting our bare feet...back inside the house to finish breakfast.

We decided to spend some time at the Treaty of Waitangi grounds about a 10 minute drive from the apartment. We were able to view a waka (canoe) used to celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. We also saw a national marae that doesn't have the name of any one particular Maori tribe because it belongs to everyone...I thought that was a very cool idea. Here are several pictures of the interior of the building:

The flagpole outside the marae marks where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by the Maori and Pakeha (Europeans) on February 6, 1840.

As we left the Treaty of Waitangi grounds, I spotted this curled up silver fern branch. This image is used on a lot of New Zealand stationary/greeting cards so it was cool to notice it out in nature:

We returned to the hotel and I had a can of soup for dinner while Josh finished off the last of the burrito meat. We took it easy and went back to the hot tub...I even got in the freezing cold swimming pool up to my shoulders. ICY!

After the hot tub, Josh and I walked across the street to the beach. We sat on a bench to watch the waves as best we could in the dark. The tide was out and we decided to walk in the waves a bit. I was afraid that a cop would drive by and bother us since we were out at night on the beach and we didn't have our IDs with us. I think I was paranoid from having been pulled over in Palmerston North.

No one bothered us and we were soon back at the apartment where we watched movies before heading to bed. We were scheduled to check out of the apartment the next day by 11. If the weather was nice, we were considering a half day tour on a boat that traveled out into the Bay of Islands area. However, the boat tour departed at 9 am and we do like to maximize our time in a nice place.

Friday, August 17

Friday, August 17

Today was our big all day tour of the Northland. We would travel roundtrip from Paihia to Cape Reinga-the northernmost (accessible) point on the North Island.

We had a good breakfast and saw that the sun was shining today. YAY! We were picked up on time and found out that there were only five passengers and the driver today. Our first stop would be to a kauri forest (kauri are native NZ trees). See Josh is the tree picture? That's how big these trees are.

I took Josh's picture next to our Dune Rider 4x4 vehicle and good thing I did because we started having electrical problems in our vehicle and we had to drive back to Katikati (about 30 minutes total time lost changing vehicles) to get a new ride. But the bummer was that we were now riding in a shuttle van not the big rig. Ultimately, I guess it was better for the environment that we were in the small ride for our small group but I was a tad disappointed as I selected this tour based on the ride.

It was a long ride up north so we stopped for a coffee break along the way. Josh didn't like his mochachino so I ended up drinking two (fine by me). We had our snack outside and watched ducks chase and bite each other.

After another 100 kms we reached Cape Reinga. We saw the land where Maori believe the spirits of the dead depart New Zealand:

Then, we saw the Cape Reinga Lighthouse and walked down to it. Standing at the edge of the cliff, we could view the spot where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean collided with each other.

We had a picnic lunch on the beach before heading to the sand dunes to sled down them!

It was a lot of work walking up the sand dunes so Josh and I only went up and down twice. Plus, I got a little nervous about being able to stop my sled by only digging my feet into the sand behind my board as directed by our guide. Here are some pictures of us sledding down the sand dunes:

After sledding down the dunes, we started driving down 90 Mile Beach (which really is 64 miles along). This part of the tour was also why I'd chose to go on a guided tour: you can't take rental cars down 90 Mile Beach because it's such a safety hazard for cars getting trapped in the sand and/or by the tides. The ride down the beach did not disappoint. It was great driving on a flat surface and we didn't look forward to getting back on the main road that was windier than the beach road. We also got out to walk around on the beach and Josh and I made the mistake of walking barefoot on the rocks. We were really lucky that we didn't cut our feet!

Our next stop was at a place called Kauri Kingdom where we could buy things made of kauri. While the furniture was really nice, it was really expensive. Like, $12,000 NZD for a bed frame expensive! We left and drove back toward Paihia stopping at Mangonui for fish and chips. They were really tasty (we could tell the fish was fresh not frozen) and we had a great view.

Our final stop before getting dropped off at the apartment was at a local fruit stand. We sampled different fruit and although we hadn't planned to buy anything, 5 kiwifruit for 60 cents seemed too good a deal to refuse!

Overall, the tour was ok. It accomplished what I wanted it to in that I got to drive down 90 Mile Beach and see Cape Reinga. Also, I think it was nice for Josh to be able to look around without having to concentrate on driving as usual. We figured it was an okay deal at $100 per person considering if we went on our own, we'd have spent a lot on fuel ourselves.

Back at the hotel, we had leftover burritos and watched movies. We went to bed with plans to sleep in the next morning since we didn't have a tour booked the following day.

Thursday, August 16

Thursday, August 16

Today was a relaxing/driving day. We didn't have any tours booked and good thing because it rained ALL DAY! We started our morning by picking up the free newspaper from the hotel and checking out at 10. They let us leave the car in the parking lot which was nice since Josh didn't want to drive into the downtown area and deal with parking.

We walked 10 minutes to the Dunkin Donuts shop we'd found the night before. We contemplated the variety of options we had. The only doughnuts we've seen in New Zealand have been plain doughnuts with a cinammon sugar coating. They're good but sometimes you want a glazed doughnut. We were in luck today.

We bought half a dozen doughnuts; each one a different flavour. There were only two bar seats to eat at in Dunkin Donuts so we decided to walk down to McDonald's to buy coffess and eat our breakfast while reading the paper. Josh had a mochachino and I ordered a regular coffee making sure to ask if there were free refills. As it turned out, when I went to get my second refill, I found out that you only get ONE free refill and seriously, look at the size of my coffee cup.

We figured we should get a move on since we had 3 hours of driving north in the rain ahead of us. We walked back to the hotel and got our car. We easily found the right road to leave Auckland and we were on our way.

Rain, rain, rain. We couldn't really see much at all as we drove north. The roads weren't too bad in regards to being twisty/turny. That was nice.

When we reached Paihia and found our hotel, Edgewater Palms, there was a truck parked under the covered area so only Josh went inside to check us in. We were staying here for three nights for free with our hotel points. I'd requested an "Admiral's View" room which was supposed to be an ocean view. Also, our room was reserved as a one bedroom apartment.

Once Josh had the key and we drove into the parking garage below, we went into all of the elevators (there are 4 total) before realizing which one would take us to our room: number 20. Having found the right elevator, we went upstairs one flight (too bad we weren't on the very top floor) and we opened the door to our apartment.

It was AWESOME! We were given a two bedroom/two bathroom apartment and told to close the room off that we didn't want to use. Of course, we chose the master bedroom that had an ocean view and walk in closet. The living room also had a massive ocean view through the sliding glass doors. This place rules! Granted, we were on a high traffic road (during the daytime) but the noise could be forgiven for such a great view.

Check out the apartment:
Since it was such a rainy day, we just decided to go grocery shopping and hang out in the apartment for the day. We went to the Woolworth's shop and bought stuff to make burritos for dinner, cereal for breakfast, and some snacks for the following day when we would be on a full day guided tour of the Northland.

Back at the apartment, Josh made us burritos for dinner and we watched tv (Josh gets so excited when our hotels have SKY movies) and used the outdoor hot tub (the rain had finally stopped and the stars were really bright and clear). When we didn't have the jets running on the hot tub, we could hear the waves crashing on the beach across the street.

We went to sleep around 11 or so because we had an early morning the next day. We were getting picked up at 7:20 so that meant we'd have to wake up at 6:15 to have breakfast and get ready.