Another coachful day out!

Today was a fun coach excursion. We went to the far north most point of the island, Cape Reinga, but there were several stops on the way there and back. First was a forest walk amongst 1000 year old Kauri trees, putting our major oak to shame! They were very tall and wide, as you might expect! The next stop by a lovely beach for refreshments, and next was possibly the most exciting thing that can happen in a coach...we drove along the beach and in the sea!:-) it's a special 4 wheel drive coach for the occasion, and as long as it doesn't stop in the wet stuff it's able to keep going! It was such fun. It was obvious the driver enjoyed that bit the most! We did circles and swerving and spraying water. And it wasn't a slow tootle along, it was faaaast. That beach, the 90 mile beach, (actually about 60 miles, incorrectly measured as 90 by cattle drovers who had failed to account for the extra time taken walking on sand to other terrain), is listed as a public highway, with a speed limit and everything! Though there wasn't exactly the traffic you'd expect on a highway...we passed one vehicle, and a seal. We circled the seal for a closer look, and moved on to a spot where there was firm enough sand to park up and have a paddle :-) unfortunately a girl dropped her phone, and the tide whisked it away before anything could be done. Maybe one day it shall be found again, but it's pretty unlikely, on a beach that length! She seemed to cope relatively well though. 

Next we stopped at a massive sand dune. We didn't drive the full length of the beach as the tide was too high. The sand dune is a popular spot for sand boarding, a bit like sledging and body boarding combined. We trudged up it with our boards in hand (hanging on to them for dear life, it was rather windy!) if you don't know what a body board is, it's fairly self explanatory, a slice of foam big enough for your upper body to lie on. Then the fun part, sliding down the dune! Yaaaay! It was pretty fast, but you could steer with your feet, and there weren't any obstacles except other people. I think I shall still be finding sand for some time to come... The wind and the sliding had it flying into our hair, ears, nails, clothes, everything!!

Onwards to the official tip of the country, there was a similar vibe to a visit to sands end. People all getting their pictures taken to prove the box has been ticked! There was a signpost denoting a horrifying number of km to London, a nice big lighthouse on the cliff, and crashing waves down either side of the outcrop of land. There was a request not to eat or drink on the site, as is the Maori custom in that place. It is believed to be the place that the deceased travel through on their way to wherever it is they are going next.

After this it was time to begin the journey back to Paihia. We had a most welcome stop at a fish and chip shop by another of the many lovely beaches, and rather marvellously the fish and chips were included in our coach tickets, woohoo! One more refreshment stop, and we were back, 11 hours after setting off. Quite a lot of sitting on a coach, but it was very fun, and I made friends with a girl who I'm planning to see tomorrow. If there's space we shall go on the dolphin cruise again (she hasn't been yet, and I get a free repeat journey owing to the lack of Dolphins previously), but if there isn't space we shall hire kayaks. Either shall be fun!

This evening I had another walk along the beach as the light slowly disappeared, and now sitting in the hostel overlooking the lights on the water :-)

Paihia pictures

To Paihia

I'm now in Paihia in the Bay of Islands. It's very lovely, as such a name suggests. It's all sunny and starting to feel like summer. It's going to be a shock when I come home to the onset of winter! There are jettys going out into the sea, and lots of islands easily visible from here. Some are near, but there are some larger ones quite far out. It's all very sheltered so doesn't often get wavey. I went on a boat cruise today which is called a dolphin cruise, although we didn't see any! A large splash was spotted ahead, and the driver thought it might be a whale judging by its size, but we didn't see it again sadly. It was a nice scenic cruise none the less, and I do have the option of going again, on the basis of the lack of Dolphins. I might see what other options I have though, as there are other things I'd like to see around here too, and it would be a shame to go out again and not see the Dolphins again! The Trip took us past some lovely looking beaches, I felt it was a shame not to have time to disembark and have a splash around. But it was nice to see them, as there's no other way of getting out there without your own boat! 

I really like the hostel I'm in tonight, as it has a large kitchen and dining room which overlooks the bay, with a whole wall of large windows. There were some buskers outside earlier, which almost sounded very nice, but were just a little on the flat side. But it did add to the atmosphere if you didn't listen too carefully! There's also a piano outside which is just waiting for anyone to play. Perhaps I won't inflict that on people, especially after my criticism of the performance of others.

Waitomo lambs

My hostel in waitomo had an excellent selection of animals...these two lambs were roaming free, and there was also a friendly deer and goat, and two baby cows. Awww! I might have stayed another night, except there was very little to do, even walking wise, aside from the caves which I'd already seen! Here is also a slightly contrasting pictures from the back yard of tonight's hostel!

Another cave and on to Auckland

I visited the waitomo glow worm caves today...this is probably the busiest and most established of caves in the waitomo area, hence the name I suppose! It is very accessible, and has the best collection of glow worms. The guides show around large groups pretty much none stop one after another. It was a spectacular trip beneath the ground. We were lead through a sequence of caves down to a lake, where we boarded a boat. We were all asked to be quiet, so I was wondering how they were planning to quietly move a boat full of about thirty people, without asking us to row (which probably wouldn't have been all that quiet anyway!). The solution was that our guide stayed standing, and pulled us along on a network of ropes webbed across the ceiling. Very clever I thought, though I do wonder if any guide has ever fallen in ( I wish I'd thought of this question soon enough to ask!) it was very peaceful down there, and was nice that everyone was quiet to take in the many thousands of lights glowing above us. It could feel a little stressful to be rammed into a cave with so many other people, but that bit was very calm and relaxing.

Like many of these attractions, they take photos of you to try and sell at the end. Mine was awful, my eyes were closed. So I didn't fork out for that one! Hehe. I met a couple of nice Australian ladies on the way out of the caves who were in New Zealand for a felting craft week, so I told them about my WOW adventures in return and we had a nice chat :-)

Then onto the coach from outside the caves, and on to Auckland. I'm only staying here one night, then going further north. But I will be back here after my travels to further places! This is where I fly home from, in less than a week! How time flies! So I've done a little exploring this evening along the harbour, where I had fish and chips. Nice, but not like Yorkshire ones. There was a random crazy golf course inside some disused silo chimneys on the dock (very peculiar!) which I had a nosey at, and was most interested to see inside. Didn't play though, thought perhaps the novelty would wear off if playing an 18 hole course solo, haha! 

I've arranged a hostel for my return to Auckland, as it's very busy here, and for the first time on my travels there was almost no room at the inn! It's getting near summer, it's the school holidays and apparently there's a band playing tonight (maroon 5) which has brought the crowds to town. This is quite a hilly city, with lots of tall buildings. I'd say it easily feels as big as Wellington, the capital, but I could be mistaken. There are lots of nearby islands to explore though, which I shall do when I'm back!

Caves

2nd October, caves!

Today has featured many caves. I got the bus from rotorua this morning in the rain. I felt this could go one of two ways.... The good way is that a rainy day is the perfect day to be inside...the bad way is that too much rain means flooded caves! As it turns out it was somewhere in between...the trip I meant to be doing was cancelled due to flooding. This should have involved abseiling in, and floating around on an inflatable ring (or tube as they call it here), jumping in and out of the water, and sliding down waterfalls. The good news was that another option was available, which took a higher route through the caves, and involved more climbing and zip wires. This was good fun, so all in all the day was a success! And most importantly, the glow worms were out and sparkling in the ceiling. We got to see some close up. The bit that glows is a dot at the end of their tail, and they glow in order to attract flies who are looking for a way out of the cave. The flies get trapped in sticky web like strings that the worms trail from the ceiling. Glow worms are actually maggots, eventually bceoming flies themselves to lay more eggs. Pretty from afar though!

Because this wasn't the trip I should have had, I also get to do a tour of another cave in the morning before getting my bus, which is a walking and boat tour of a particularly glow worm filled cave. Hurray!

After the caves today I went for a walk in some countryside that was doing a very good impression of Yorkshire, especially in the rain! There was green grass, cows, undulating hills, muddy paths and a full muddy river. It took me to some excellent bonus caves that you could look inside, which were very impressive, and worth getting soggy for!