Day 3 - Auckland to Pahia - The boat that rocked

On day 3 I luckily woke up before my recently acquired alarm clock. especially lucky because I had discovered that it had somehow gone from being on time to 15 minutes late in the space of one night. I headed downstairs, checked out, had some toast and quickly packed an overnight bag. I then went down to wait for the bus to Paihia. The bus arrived shortly after, and we headed for our first stop of the day, the 'Top of the Dome' cafe. This was a quaint little diner, situated upon a hilltop and with a small selection of puzzles to keep customers occupied. We waited for a while, as Scoobs, the driver, had to head back the the last town we had passed to pick up some more folk. We then headed further north, stopping shortly in Whangarei. We got into Paihia for lunchtime, and so I had some time to kill before I was due to embark on a cruise on board the Rock boat cruise. I popped over to base Pipi Patch, which was to be my accomodation for the following night, and I made use of their luggage storage room to get rid of the heaviest of my bags. I then spent $10 on a ferry ticket across to Russell, which is often misquoted as being the 'first capital of New Zealand' (i.e. under British rule). It is not, in fact, that honour going to a small town outside of Russell known as Okiato, which was capital until 1841 and was called Russell until 1841, until the name was transferred to Kororareka, modern day Russell. However, as a favored stopping point for some long distance sailors, Russell did become known as the 'hellhole of the pacific', a name which no longer applies, and today it is known as 'Romantic Russell'. I didn't really find much to interest myself in Russell, although I did find it to be very similar to Devonport. I had some fish and chips, which weren't really anything to blog about, and I took the ferry back over to Paihia. I wandered about the town center for a while, and eventually it was time to board the tender for 'the Rock'. Well, it wasn't actually their tender, whose engine was having a break for Christmas, but a scuba diving company'y rib, onto which 19 people were crammed, all of us leaning over the side and holding on for dear life. We reached 'the Rock' and were helped aboard by John, the captain. Whilst the rest of the guests were collected, we met the rest of the crew, Mink, Ben, Olten and Lizzy. We were then shown to our rooms before assembling back downstairs for the shooting competition. This was a 'duck shoot', the target being Matilda, the plastic Aussie duck who was riding in the boat's wake. I hit her on the first go, and got through to the second round. I then shot her again, and won a free drink. When we arrived at our anchoring point shortly after, we got ready for a spot of fishing. it took a while for the fish to start to bite, but then we were catching Snapper thick and fast, and sadly all too small, so they had to be thrown back. We then had a barbecue which was gorgeous, with a huge range of salads with steak and sausages. I sat with a nice American family who I had gotten talking to, and we got put into a group together for the night kayaking. Happily, it also happened to be the first group going out, and at about 9pm, when it was pitch black, we all got our life jackets on and mounted out Kayaks. Although I didn't see the famed luminescence, the view of the constellations out there was breathtaking. You could see everything so clearly, even the great Magellanic cloud was visible. After we had finished kayaking, and the other groups started to go out, a few of us jumped in for a swim. I was surprised at the temperature of the water, which wasn't exactly warm, but didn't feel cold either. It was so relaxing, and after that, I got a great night's sleep.

The Overlander - 12 hours of non-stop scenery

Another escape from Napier was my trip to Wellington To Auckland by train. I managed to get a bargain ticket (only $49). First I took the Inter City coach from Napier to Wellington. This was my first foray into Coach travel in NZ, and the coaches were spacious and comfortable (I will not judge too much on legroom, as I am an exception). The coach trip to Wellington took 6 hours, but there were plenty of breaks to use the toilet and a food stop at Palmerston North. I got into wellington at the Train station (The coach bay is next to platform 9), and went off to find out where my hostel was. It turned out to be in Courtenay place, more than walking distance form the station, and so I caught a bus. The hostel, base Wellington turned out to be clean and not too cramped, with a good bar down in the basement (actually called, *sigh* basement bar). This was my first foray into the base chain of hostels, and it was a good impression. I had a few days in Wellington, and on the first day I visited Te Papa, the big museum which stands out as one of the greatest exhibition of NZ and Maori culture. I spent the whole day there, and could have happily spent longer. There were so many attractions, including a 4-D cinema, where the chairs were on Hydraulics, and an interactive floor map of New Zealand, where you could step on an area and be rewarded with pictures and stories from that area, which flashed up on the wall. I even dined in the cafe, where the fish and chips were gorgeous, definitely the best I've had in New Zealand so far. The batter was melt-in-the mouth and the chips, although obviously of the frozen variety, were cooked to perfection. On return to my hostel in the evening I went down to the bar and had a few drinks. I made friends with a couple of girls who were travelling round NZ in a 'van. we arranged to meet up the next night (Guy Fawkes' night) and go to the botanical gardens before the fireworks. The following day we walked right through town and up the hill to the gardens, which were quite pretty, if a little uninteresting, and then we headed up the hill to find a good view. We didn't quite make it to the summit, but we did find a giant ear trumpet (well, that's what it looked like), and a children's play area with a small flying fox (well, it was quite fun). We headed back down the hill and found a quaint little Chinese restaurant. Where we had lunch. We then split and agreed to meet up later back at their van for the fireworks. That evening, we went out onto the harbor front and watched a jet-ski race, followed by some powerboats (one tipped, but everyone was ok). Later, when the sun went down, there was a fireworks spectacular, orchestrated between two barges in the harbor. After that, we headed back to their van for a couple of drinks, and we were sitting down when a policeman came knocking on the window. "Is this the party bus?" he enquired. One of the girls actually invited him in, but he refused. Later, when we were finishing off the dregs of our alcohol, another policeman cam knocking and told us it was a liquor ban area and that we weren't supposed to be drinking. We showed him that we were pretty much finished, and he told us that he wouldn't do anything this time, but if another policeman came knocking, he might not be so lenient. This time one of the girls asked is she could borrow his hat for a photo, but the policeman refused, claiming 'hygiene reasons'. After that, we finished off the last of our drink and I headed back to my hostel, off to bed before the train the next day. The following morning, I got up at 5am for the train, and I was witing at the bus stop at 6am. There was also an older American couple waiting, who ere also getting on the train. We waited for 15mins, and there was still no sign of the bus, and then a taxi pulled up. we agreed to share it, and split the bill. However, when we got to the other side, they refused to take a cent from me, telling me that they would have had to pay the same anyway. We checked our bags in for the train, and were assigned our seats. They were in coach A, and I was in coach P. Oh, well, I told them, it was nice meeting you. We headed to the train, and discovered (to my surprise) that there were only 4 coaches, named, in order, coach A, coach P, coach B and coach C. (Later examination showed that the sign on P was just a B with the bottom part covered. i reached my seat and found that I was in a seat with a lack of legroom, and so I headed to see the guard. after some hustle and bustle, I was finally seated in coach A, which was definitely the place to be, with a Lounge at the back and a huge plate glass window that let you look right along the track behind you. it was amaszing, and the views were immense. I got some great shots of mount Ruapehu, and Tongariro. Although the trip was 12 hours loong, it was really worthwhile, and we saw views that you just wouldn't see by road. We also traversed the Rumeru spiral, whis wound its way right around the mountainside. Also, at the start of the journey that guard told us over the tannoy to take 'only 20 mins each in the lounge', but no-one seemed to want to come to the lounge, so a small group of us spent several hours there, and I had pretty much moved in there by the end of the journey. When we arrived in Auckland I was tired and hungry after such a lonmg journey, and I headed to my hostel,base ACB, which was entirely contained in a tower block, with reception on floor 3. I took my room on floor 6 and dumped my stuff, before heading out for food. I had an early night that night, because I was just so exhausted after all that sitting around all day. The next day I got up early and had a chat to Krystal, the gir who worked at the travel desk.She told me that I could get a magic buss north island discovery pass for $450, and get the south island pass, woth $600, for $1. That sounded like a good deal, and I considered it as I took a trip out to mount rangitoto. To get there I had to take a ferry from the harbour to rangitoto island, a volcanic island in the mouth of auckland harbour. I then took the tour around the island, on a tractor-trailor. It was a good ride, and i got some great pics, especially from the top of the mountain, which is a dormant volcano which erupted and appeared from the sea floor several hundred years ago. It was also used as a long distance early warning watchtower during the second world war, when there was a threat of invasion from Japan. On my return to the hostel that evening I had made up my mind, and I bought a magic bus pass, which I bough several add-ons for, such as the total Northland, covering from Aucland up to Pahia and Cape Reinga and back. I also bought the Milford and Catlins Combo, covering the very south of he south Island, and including a day trip to the milford sound. As well as this, I bought base jumping vouchers, which is a deal with the Bbase group of hostels, giving 11 nights accomodation for the price of 10, and free drink vouchers every night. It's a really good deal. I was then all set for my big trip around New Zealand, which is the focus of the rest of this blog. The following day I took the trip back on the bus to Napier from Auckland, a 7 hour journey which passed through some nice scenery, but nothing so epic. I arrived back to Napier that afternoon, and the planning began for the big trip.

New Zealand - The first few footprints

Okay, so here's how this is gonna go. First, I'm gonna get my first couple of follies in NZ outta the way first! Fist there was the few days i spent in Auckland when I first arrived in NZ. I stayed in a little guest house slightly out of the CBD, called Freeman's lodge. The bed was comfy, and the breakfast wasn't bad, so no complaints here, although it was a bit of a walk from the CBD. on my first night, I walked up to Kerangahape Road (K Road) to get some food and i picked up some fish and chips. It was only when I sat donw to eat on a bench that I noticed all the rainbow flags. I had unwittingly entered the gay district. Oh, well, no harm in that, could be worse. I quickly finished my fish and chips and headed back to the hostel. On the way, I tripped on the edge of one of the pavements and took a flying leap right onto my arm. I scraped the skin off one elbow and cut the other hand. It could have been worse. I landed about a foot from a broken glass bottle. I stumbled back to the guest house (I banged my knee too!), and patched myself up with my trusty first aid kit. The following day I walked into centraql Auckland and headed first to the Sky Tower. I took the lift to the top and the views were spectacular. I also visited the little cafe downstairs, which does a nice bit of cake. My next stop was the harbour, where I took a tour right around. it was a great trip, and the captain was so knowledgeable. On my return I visited Minus5, officially the coolest bar in New Zealand (it'a actually -5C). The downside was that I cost $25 to get in and have one cocktail, but it was a good cocktail.
affter that, I decided to head back to the hostel, for a well earned rest. The following day I headed first on a ferry over to Devonport. This is a sleepy little town, but it's quite cute in the way it sits so close to the CBD of Auckland. I walked up to North Head, the site of the Gun batteries used to defend Auckland Harbour during the wars (though there was never a shot fired in anger). The tour was quite informative, although some of the underground passageways were a little bit spooky. I looked for a chip shop on the seafront before I caught a fery back, and the only place I found was in the ferry terminal itself. It was run by an Arab family, and the fish and chip come highly recommended, as do the reasonable prices. Once fed, and back in the CBD, I caught a bus out to Kelly Tarlton's underwater world. This was a bit disappointing, to say the least. There really wasn't that much to see for the steep entry price, and the only highlight for me was the ride through penguin enclosure (although the car was a little cramped). I wouldn't recommend this, as there are plenty of places much more worthy of your money. After another full day of exploring. I headed back to the hostel, passing a kebab shop on the way (the kebab wasn't that good, nor were the chips, but I was hungry). That was it for Auckland for now, as the next day I caught a plane to Napier, home of my Aunts and the Art Deco Capital of New Zealand.