start of nz adventure

the trip round auckland was a really good way of seeing lots of things all in one day. we got on the big orange bus and nathan took us round all the sights. we saw someone sky jump off the sky tower (for fun) and walked under the harbour bridge to see someone bungee jump. not really liking the look of it. apparently the place to do it is queenstown so i've still got time to decide. looks like suicide to me. i also bought a woolly hat from the little victoria market as it's so chilly here. will have to invest in a coat aswell. nathan also took us up to bastion point, which is an important area for the maoris, and round mission bay. saw lots of things that would have normally taken us several days. v good, nathan. promptly booked the stray pass for new zealand. they give you a set route, which is useful as i still can't decide where to go to cover everything. they also chucked in a few freebies aswell.

the next day was more relaxed. the dev needed her new jeans altering and i needed the post office so we had an afternoon bodging about town. i developed a strong need to find out all the latest celebrity gossip after seeing some magazine headlines. i didn't think i was a 'heat' reading kind of person but two weeks in the wilderness has taught me that it is essential to know about such things as whether brad and angelina are splitting up and whether he still loves jen. especially as i've now seen there marital home and everything. spent quite a lot of time that afternoon reading these trashy mags so i now feel fully informed on all the speculation.

after my brain had melted reading these mags, i decided i needed to get out. we took the ferry across the harbour to devonport which is a really pretty harbour town. had a few bevvies and some bangers and mash, whilst wearing the trendy new new zealand fleece i'd bought. it's made from 'extreme fleece' which makes me think of sky diving sheep. i then took myself off on a bit of an evening walk. walked round all the old bungalows and big houses in the dusklight. ended up walking along cheltenham beach which was beautiful in the failing light. took a circuitous route to end up at the pub where i'd left the other barrys. it as really relaxing to wander about. everyone was really friendly that i met along the way. this place is soooo different to the u.s. it feels so much more like home.

the next day it was time to head north to the bay of islands. the bus came at the ungodly hour of 7.45am, which was mildly distressing. they seem to be a really good bus company, though, as we seemed to stop every hour to look at some kauri trees or some tropical fish somewhere. it broke the journey up nicely and you felt you were learning more about the country. this ain't no greyhound, thank god. we ended the day in paihia (pie-a-here) which seems to be just a big backpacking village. there's loads to do, though, so we may end up spending a few days here. we got our bags in our room, had some tea and then wandered off to the beach area. this place looks just like a lake district town. we felt we were sat by windermere or something as we sat by the sea and watched the boats bobbing along and some blokes doing press-ups on the beach. it all happens here. we then indulged in a minty hot chocolate before heading off to bed. lovely.

we waved goodbye to the dev early the next morning as she began her super-quick cross-country journey to queenstown to meet people she met in fiji. reggie and i instead headed further north, getting on a big tank-like bus going to cape reinga at the top of nz. it was a tank because we went on ninety mile beach and bezzed along up the beach for miles. it was so wild, though there were a few other people in cars zooming up the coast too. the beach is actually 67 miles long, not 90. it's called that because it used to be the only 'highway' up to the top and the cattle drivers thought they covered 30 miles a day and it took them three days to get up there. interesting fact for the day, there. we also went 4x4 and bezzed about over the sand dunes looking for wild horses. the horses were all at home, though, so we didn't see any. the bus then took us up to the big sand hills near the end of the beach. this was where we got these mini surfboards out and went sandboarding. it was fab! we climbed a big sandy hill, laid bellydown on these boards and just let go. it was a bit scary at the top when you saw how steep it was but once you set off it was great. really smooth and lots of fun. reg was less keen but she did do it, good on her, screaming all the way down. i loved it and kept going back for more. the hardest bit was climbing the bluddy steep hill in the sand. left the hill having got ruddy red cheeks and sand everywhere.

the remaining part of the day out was heading up to cape reinga. it was a v beautiful place, where the pacific ocean meets the tasman sea. you get these weird waves in the middle of the sea where the two waves collide. and the surf crashing against the rocks has a massive swell and it all seems to be in slow motion. amazing place.

today is going to be a bit more slowly paced, i think, having got up early and done a lot of travelling the last two days. we may get the ferry to russell or head up to the place where the treaty between the maoris and the british was signed. or there's also the option of swimming with dolphins. decisions...