Where is Darran?

The second day in Paihia was one of my favorites of the tour. We took a bus tour up Ninety Mile Beach, went body boarding down sand dunes, and up to Cape Reinga. The bus is designed to drive in water and the driver is mad fun taking people into the ocean and up a creek.

Ninety Mile Beach

Sand Boarding

Cape Reigna

On the way back towards Paihia we stopped at a place that makes items out of Kauri wood.

Check out this staircase made inside a Kauri tree.

On the way back we also stopped to take the Manginangina Kauri Walk.

Scored some great fish and chips for about 6 NZD on the way back and then went to Trivia night at the Pipi Patch backpacker bar. Got second place to some locals who were most likely colluding with the Trivia leader. That night Errik, Chris, Mikey, Craig, Andy, and others would join the team. The day before Katharina, Mark, and Stefanie started the fire. All the named peeps would provide good company throughout the journey.

I didn’t have/make enough time on tour to keep the site updated with travels, but I would like to document some of the experience here. To do that, I am going to update the site retrospectively. The goal is to update the site each day for a day that I was on tour. Today, starts with the first day.

Leaving on August 17, 2009, we headed to the Bay of Islands.

We stayed in a small resort town called Paihia. A beach runs along the entire town and an abundance of shells can be found along the beach. Anyone coming to New Zealand, I would highly recommend making your way up to Paihia. It is a great place to relax. If you are on a budget, there are many places where you can work part-time for your accommodation and possibly some food thrown in too.

Some of the group went on a dolphin watching cruise and to see the Hole in the Rock. I decided to stay back in town and do some grocery shopping and walk along the beach. I have seen dolphins before and sometimes it’s hard for me to get g’d up about geological formations.

Location on Google Maps:

View New Zealand 2009 in a larger map

In Auckland and setting up shop. Much love from NZ.

Ended up back in Christchurch as part of a camping excursion with a friend. Headed back up to Kaikoura tonight and plan on being in Auckland by Monday.

Amazing day in Christchurch. Explored the Botanical Gardens. Christchurch is supposed to have the happiest Kiwis in New Zealand. From what I’ve seen so far, life is good here. Might try to chase up some work here.