Northland

Okay the pictures are all out of order in this post - when I try to upload more than one at a time (to save time), they don't seem to land in the order I expect or in the place I want. I'm working with limited time to get this entry posted (and it's a long one!!), so I'll leave it to you to figure out what picture goes with what story!!

Sandboarding down giant sand dunes

Staircase carved up the centre of a kauri tree

















Kayaking at the base of Haruru Falls

Works of art - public toilets designed by a German


























One of the sights from the free eco-tour in the Bay of Islands














Swimming with dolphins!!!














Check out how close we could get! (I have no idea which one is me in these shots...sorry.)

Pictures from Auckland Domain and the Winter Gardens:

So I'm back from Northland - and what a full few days I've had! But let's back up a bit...the night before I set out, Alexandra (my Auckland roommate from France, closest I've found to my age so far at 29 years old) and I and our two other roommates went out to a place called the Mexican Cafe and did a little SALSA dancing! It was so much fun! A bunch of different guys asked me to dance, but for some reason, more than half of them were from Chile...and if they were a fair representation, Chileans aren't the best dancers! At times, I had no idea where the hell I was - there I was, in NZ, dancing to Latin music, with Chileans, and I had been speaking mainly in French all day for Alexandra's sake...felt very surreal. But it was fun all the same. I didn't really want to leave when I did (at 1:45am), but I knew I had to get up early to catch the Stray bus to Northland (6:30am). So I was working with about 4 hours sleep. On the bus, there was a guy from San Diego, and four Germans. Westopped at a few places of interest along the way - like in Kawakawa, we pulled over for a rest stop at a fancy public washroom. It was a work of art! Designed by a German. Our first overnight stop was in a town called Paihia. We checked into our hostels (mine was Saltwater Lodge - very clean, nice place), then walked down to the marina where we were meeting a catamaran for a free eco-tour in the Bay of Islands (there are 144 islands in the bay!).It was a little cold, but fantastic! AND!!! We lucked out - one of the sister boats found a pair of dolphins. Our captain checked out the conditions and since she felt things were okay, we were allowed to get in and SWIM WITH THE DOLPHINS! Woo-hoo! We suited up in wetsuits, flippers, a mask and snorkel and eased our way into the water off the back of the boat. It was crazy at first - excitement, nerves, cold water, bodies scrambling around everywhere trying to find the dolphins and swim closer to them. At first, we were all looking above water for their fins and bodies to surface. Once we saw them, into the water our faces would go and we'd swim in that direction. All the while, the boat crew was yelling out to us, directing us to where they were, telling us to look for them underwater instead of from the surface. Chaos! Initially, I was breathing too fast (maybe from the cold water, the excitement and nerves?) and tired quickly - had to get back up on the boat for a break. Fortunately, I got to go back in and it was much better. I kept my face in the water more. The green hued water was a bit murky but it was still easy to see them swimming around and underneath us. The two of them went right beneath me...it was great! I really liked the fact that the captain told us we were there to entertain the dolphins and not the other way around. Eventually they tired of us though and disappeared. We climbed back on board, changed back into our clothes (which was a little tough for me - I hadn'tbrought a towel, just my swimsuit, and you had to change in the cramped head of the boat), and had a hot drink. Ah, heaven. We saw other sights during the tour too, like the Hole in the Rock, and the profile of a woman's face in the side of a cliff. That night, I met up with two of the Germans again (Helena and Johannes) at Beachhouse Cafe, right beside my hostel. There was a live artist playing and he was pretty good. I stayed for the first set and he did covers of Dave Matthews, Counting Crows, Elton John, that type of stuff. Eventually my eyes started getting heavy so I trudged up to bed. An early start was coming again the following morning - we caught another bus tour up to Cape Reinga. Saw tons of sights. Passed a kiwifruit orchard - I had always assumed they grew on trees, but no - on vines almost like grapes. Our driver was telling us, among other things, about how healthy they are, all the vitamins they contain - and that we're supposed to eat the skin too! I tried it later that day...it's actually not bad! We stopped at Puketi Kauri Forest, where some of NZ's kauri trees grow. Kauri trees are HUGE! And they live to be quite old - I think the tree I'm hugging in the photo is about 800 years old...and they can live as long as 2,000-4,000 years. Wow. We all wanted to hug the tree - Barry (the driver) told us it's Maori legend that if you hug a Kauri tree you'll feel better, happy, etc. Hug, hug, hug! We soon got to Cape Reinga, which is the second northernmost tip of NZ. We could see the northernmost tip from the lighthouse, but it's inaccessible. Cape Reinga is a very sacred, spiritual spot and it is believed to be the departing place of the Maori spirits. It's also where the Tasman and Pacific Oceans meet and is a popular spot for people to send mail - they have a unique hand-crank system for postmarking mail, making mail sent from there a collectible item. It's believed that the receiver of mail sent from Cape Reinga will also receive good luck. (Mom&Dad - get any mail from me lately??) From Cape Reinga, we headed to a GIANT sand dune (53m high someone said) and went...sandboarding! Hell of a walk up the sand dune, but the slide down is awesome. I managed two runs, but the walk did most of us in. I knew there was a huge diversity of landscapes here, but I wasn't expecting huge sand dunes. From there, we drove 110kms an hour down the Ninety Mile Beach (Barry explained where the name came from because it's really only 64 miles long). But yes, we were driving ON the beach. Beautiful spot. Barry spotted two birds on the shore, said they were oyster catchers and were super lazy, that they'd rather run from us than fly away. He slowed down and started doing big, slow donuts around these two birds. One of the birds started to run away on his two little legs, but he was going in a circle too - it was hilarious! This little bird, with a bit of a waddly run, skittering away with us following slowly behind. And he just kept running. Maybe you had to be there, but I couldn't help but laugh! Oh, and sadly, we also passed a dead sperm whale that had beached itself a couple of weeks ago. It was kind of gross. It was pretty butchered up since the Maori take parts of the animal (like its organs and lower jaw). Eww. Wasn't a pretty sight. Next stop was a stop at Ancient Kauri Kingdom - a shop where they make and sell items created from Kauri trees. They had this awesome staircase leading up to the second floor that was carved up through the inside of a Kauri tree - that's how big these magnificent trees can get!
Last stop was at a fish shop in Mangonui - I didn't order any because I was worried that the motion of the bus would combine with the greasy food and I'd not end up feeling well. However, Barry talked it up so much, I wanted to try it. In the end, he shared his with me. He gets free meals there since he brings all the bus tours there. He ordered two pieces of fish with fries and we each ate a piece of fish. Now I know what you're thinking! But NO - he was well into his fifties I think. Lonely soul, he was...very nice, but not for me! We finally got back to Paihia and Johannes and Helena invited me over to their hostel to share a spaghetti supper. Mmmmmm...spaghetti. Good thing it's cheap to make too!
The following day, after sleeping in a bit, we had more spaghetti for lunch and then went kayaking for the afternoon. We headed along the Paihia coast in the Bay of Islands and paddled to through the Waitangi mangrove forests towards Haruru Falls. You could actually paddle pretty close to the base of the falls - and it felt like the mist enveloped me. The paddle back was tough. We were paddling against the tide, against the wind, after having paddled for about an hour and a half already. My wrists and back were screaming...but we made it!
On Tuesday, Johannes and I walked up to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. We had a quick snack in the awesome cafe there (all naturally built with wood tables and stuff), but didn't get too much farther than that. We started to hike the trail leading to the same falls we kayaked to the prior day but it started to POUR! We tried to wait it out but it didn't seem to want to let up. We scurried back to the visitor's centre and had them call a tuk-tuk for us (little Asian taxi, I think - Joanna, Nicolle and Jenny - you're probably familiar with these!) I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on emails before I had to catch the bus back to Auckland.

Today has been sort of an errand day. Picking up a few things I needed, doing laundry, planning my next move, blogging, repacking my bags. (I'm storing a bunch of stuff at the IEP Office...really did bring too much stuff.) I'm staying at a hostel in Ponsonby tonight (just outside of Auckland central) called Verandahs. Couldn't stand the thought of another night at the Auckland Backpackers Central. It was okay but cookie-cutter-like and too big and full of young, immature, unsmiling people. I purchased a membership to get discounts at a certain type of hostel (BBH) and these hostels are generally smaller and located outside city hubs - much more in line with what I'd prefer. This place might be the first spot I feel somewhat at home. It's an old 1905 villa and has a lot of character. Balconies, great views, is next door to a park. Sharing a room with two people tonight (I've been staying in share rooms all along, with two or three other people), but tomorrow night I've decided to get a room to myself. It's more expensive of course, but it's just one night.
I really have to get my head around this "backpacking" mentality. Even though I don't really consider myself to be backpacking. I started catching onto what others are doing and am trying to go to the grocery store for supplies instead of eating out every meal if I know I'll be staying in one spot for more than a day.
I've only been here a week (feels longer with all the things I've done) and I'm already looking forward to starting my job at the farm. Funny, huh? But it will be a stationary spot for a few weeks, if not a couple of months providing all goes well, and I think I'll have a room to myself. I'll be able to get a routine going for a little while at least - as boring as it seems sometimes, there is something comforting about a little routine. And maybe I won't feel like I'm so transient while I'm there; less like I'm strictly living out of suitcases.
ANYWAY...what's next? I bought another adventure bus trip - this one goes through the Central North Island region. I'll stick with the tour until it gets to Taupo, then jump off to go to the Hawkes Bay region where the farm is. Whenever I finish at the farm, whether it be in two weeks or two months, I'll jump back onto the bus where I got off and continue on. Not a bad system, eh?
Alright, I've had your attention long enough. Go take a break - you did well. Ha, ha.
Til next time, this is your Hali-girl turned temporary Kiwi saying Kia Ora, and signing off.