The experiences aren't as immediate and fresh in my mind, so this is going to be more of a recap. Apologies for length. Also, eat something before/during your read: beware the food pictures.
In my opinion, the town of Whangarei wasn't anything special - I'd put it somewhere in the middle. I had wanted to go up the west coast towards the top of the country like Greg told me to, but a lot of cool places around here are inaccessible without a car. So east coast I went. Seriously, everything in town was shut down by 5pm and good luck finding a restaurant open on a Sunday night! (There was only one.) Every night walking home, the streets were deadly silent - and not even in a dangerous someone's going to rob me way, since I'm sure criminals wouldn't get any business.
There were a few great highlights of my 3 nights there, though. Firstly, being able to meet tons of people at the hostel, which had the right kind of space for mingling. I guess it was necessary to socialize since it took 20 min to walk into town, plus there wasn't anything special in town anyway. The second night, after having dinner at A Deco (the restaurant voted best in NZ: yummmmm), a bunch of us from the hostel ventured out to see some caves and glowworms.
Thus the spider adventure began. We trekked out of town as daylight was fading, and made it to the forest. The way people described it to me, I thought you could just walk through the caves and look at the big spider-looking 'weta' at a distance. Nope. We had to crouch with our flashlights while those things were hanging out on the cave ceiling. Six out of eight of us were girls - so you can imagine the squealing. But we all braved it and came out alive and manlier than ever before. The glowworms were a fantastic sight to see at night, these small blue dots that clustered on the sides of the rock wall like city lights from an airplane.
The reason why I stayed an extra night was for the snorkeling. I hadn't realized it but Poor Knights Island near Whangarei is one of the top 10 diving sites in the world, so I thought why not? Hurray for Joey for conquering another fear! It turns out you don't need to know how to swim, since the wetsuits are basically life jackets for your body. I was nervous when we had all the gear on and it was time to dive. That morning the skies were cloudy and the ocean was a bit choppy, so floating in the water and breathing through my mouth took some getting used to. But according to the guides, I was a pro! (They probably say that to everyone). I started to feel at home in the water and took a million pictures with my awesome waterproof camera. Even though I wasn't as close to the marine life as the divers were, I still saw quite a few schools of fish. Apparently there was a loose seal and turtle, but I missed them both. The second snorkel after lunch was magnificent, the sun came out and I felt like I had voyeuristic access to this giant underwater playground world. Made some friends, splashed around, and did something new that was out of my comfort zone. All in all a great day!
Paihia was a refreshing change to the staleness of Whangarei. It's weird, I had gotten so many meh or negative reviews of this town, but as soon as we rolled in (me and some girls I got a ride with), we were all so glad we came. SUNNY BEACH! The main road runs parallel to this huge exspanse of beach and ocean, with houses and foresty hills on the other side. Plus my first hostel was called Cap'n Bob's Beachhouse. Come on.
In Paihia I checked out the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which was the setting for the peace treaty signed between the Europeans and the Maori. It's fascinating to see how Maori culture is celebrated and how good the relationship is between the two groups, although I'm sure that somewhere there are a few Kiwis who might discriminate against the Maoris. But definitely not to the degree of other countries. Anyway, twas an interesting complex with museums and a sweet little cafe with french toast and bacon (as intense as it sounds).
The day after that was cloudy and I was still feeling stingy (everybody comes here to swim with the dolphins or do 20 other $$$ water activities), so I hiked to Haruru Falls. The highlight of that was walking through the Mangrove forest. There, the hiking trail gave way to a calm river with a boardwalk leading through beautifully twisted mangrove trees growing out of the water. At that point, it was drizzling and the air was misting around me as I walked through this magical place, and it really felt like I was in the Lord of the Rings.
I took another route back that went through the countryside, and it was there that I saw something pretty wrong. On this trip, I've seen way too many dead animals. Some, like the blue penguin I saw 3 weeks ago washed up on the beach was most likely a natural cause, as were the small sharks a few days ago on the 90 mile beach. They had all died at sea and then were washed up and remained after low tide. On this hike however, what I saw was definitely caused by humans. On the shoulder of the gravel road I was walking on, I looked over to admire the view of the countryside... and lying in front of me were about 10 dead possums with body fur and skin removed (save for the tails and heads, so I could see what they were). Nothing bloody or gory, but disturbing. Even more disturbing was when I was in a souvenir shop later that day and saw some gag gifts - penis and belly button warmers - made with real possum fur. Really, human race? You're going to kill these 'nuisances' for the sake of clothing your genitals? Sigh.
Ahipara and the Endless Summer Lodge where I stayed are the stars of the show for this post. It's another beach town, with even less going on in the 'town center' (literally some gas pumps, a small grocery store, a cafe and a fish and chips takeout place).
But it sucked me in, just like for everyone else at the hostel. It's almost insulting to call Endless Summer a hostel - it's a beautifully restored house from 1880 that has clean rooms, comfy beds (especially for dorm standards), a fully equipped kitchen and a wonderful covered patio with a long wooden table (tree trunk) and twinkly lights and grape vines everywhere. Just lovely.
And it was right across the street from the start of the 90 mile beach. At low tide, it's like you're in a dreamscape, because the beach is usually so empty and the sand just goes on forever. Most of the time it was just 4 wheel drives that frequented the beach, which in my opinion is a lazy way to go walking with your dogs.
On the tour I took to Cape Reinga (northernmost point of NZ), we learned that road rules apply on the beach, even though nobody pays any attention. So, the tour bus drove down the 90 miles on the beach, although it didn't do any donuts liked I had hoped. Our guide was a Maori native with a dry wit, who told us a lot about the history of the area. According to Maori legends, the north island is a big fish, while the south is a canoe. So, where we were up top is the tail of the fish. We also got an intimate haka performance by some Maori, with lots of cool chanting, singing, stomping and eyes bugging out.
We also stopped at a big sand dune so we could all try some sand tobagganing, which is really tiring on the way up. I only did it twice, and I learned that you zoom a lot faster on your stomach.
At Cape Reinga, I eagerly anticipated the meeting of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. However, it was cloudy that day so we couldn't see out too far, and also the meeting of the waters turned out to be funny little whirpools out in the water. But still, another rewarding experience on my belt.
On Sunday it was raining men, so everybody just chilled out at the hostel. Finally whipped out Bananagrams! The weather hasn't actually improved that much since then, which makes staying in beach towns a tease, but apparently it's supposed to clear up by tomorrow. I really didn't want to leave Ahipara and more importantly the hostel yesterday, only I was forced to because there was no vacancy. So me and Diede (Dutch, from the hostel) came to Paihia yesterday to wait out another friend who's staying longer in Ahipara. Another new adventure: hitchhiking! I wouldn't have done it alone, mind you, but this was the perfect opportunity to flash our legs on the side of the road and wink at random people in their cars. The funny thing is, nothing worked for the first 5-10 min, not even our sweet cardboard sign, until a guy told us to go on the other side of the road. Technically either way you can get to Paihia, but the other side was faster (so we weren't just stupidly trying to get a ride in the wrong direction). But before we could flash our legs some more across the street, a Brazilian guy offered us a ride! He drove us to Paihia for free, and our sign, while well-intentioned, was useless.
I've realized that beachtowns are underwhelming if it's rainy.. so I'm glad that I've experienced Paihia in more optimal weather. Tomorrow Luisa is driving from Ahipara to pick us up so we can go camping on the east coast for 2 days and hit up some spots that I wasn't able to see by bus. Then it's back to Auckland and the next farm! I'll be in Thames for a week.
Got to figure out where I'll be for Christmas.. maybe BBQ'd Christmas turkey on the beach?
Good stuff, you had covered a lot of grounds, hope you will settle down in the new farm and then moves on to enjoy the southern parts of New Zealand. Don't know whether we can link your blog to the Chinese website of Vancouver in which we just to contribute our free articles.
ReplyDeleteI mean Vancouver Sun
ReplyDeleteLiving the dream, you are! How do I get to skype with you?
ReplyDeletelove the food porn and your buggy-eyed, tongue-out face! and your legs! =))
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