Day 8 - Paihia to Auckland - Dolphins, Detours and a Distinct Lack of Food.

The bus which turned up to take me back to Auckland was a surprise. It was a small minibus towing a trailer. The 1st stop of the trip was in the small town of Rawene which was completely dead. It was meant to be a breakfast stop. We didn't stay too long before we headed onto somewhere with food. The next stop was the joint towns of Opotiki and Opononi, where there was still no place to get food. We passed straight through and headed just out of town to a cafe just up the hill, where the views were brilliant. After breakfast, we headed back into Opononi. We stopped at the i-site where there was a small museum with a section dedicated to Opo the dolphin. A little while after we had left Opononi we visited ancient Waipoua forest, home of Tane Mahuta, a 51.2m high giant kauri tree believed to be between 1250 and 2500 years old. According to Maori mythology Tāne is the son of Ranginui the sky father and Papatuanuku the earth mother. Tāne was the child that tore his parent’s parental embrace and once done set about clothing his mother in the forest we have today. All living creatures of the forest are regarded as Tāne’s children. The pictures were pretty amazing. Next stop was the Kauri Museum at Matakohe. This was a very interesting museum, which told the story of the Kauri logging industry before the harvesting of wood from living Kauri was banned. it also had a really good gift shop with very reasonable prices. I got a Kauri egg identical to those in the Ancient Kauri Kingdom for only $5. It was 35000 years old and made from a piece of swamp Kauri. I also go a piece of ancient Kauri gum (hardened sap, not for chewing). We then got underway back to the Big Little City, and Bex, our deriver , told us that there were going to be huge tailbacks on SH1. Instead, we took a detour along SH16, which passed through Kaukapakapa, an area of outstanding scenery. We even took a little rest stop at a lookout with a couple of long drop toilets. We arrived back in Auckland only slightly behind schedule, and I got dropped at my hostel, where I checked in and got myself some food. After that, I went down to the Globe Bar to get a drink (I still had some free drink vouchers from the previous stay) and I watched the killer pool competition, which was played on two table side by side, with one person to a table. The first person to clear their table won, and the black got potted last. It was quite good. After I had run out of free drinks I headed back upstairs to bed.