Auckland, Paihia, Auckland, NZ, 31 March - 10 April 2012‏

Lighthouse at Cape Reinga

We eventually arrived in Auckland after a 6 hour delay at Nadi, Fiji due to the weather. Lucky we got out at all, as the weather in Fiji was on the turn to a cyclone, and persistent rain which would cause floods which we saw forming as we lifted off.

When we left Nadi, Jo was starting to feel pretty ill, and as we landed in NZ, she was only getting worse. For fear of being too far from a loo, and to speed up the journey to the YHA backpackers, we took a shuttle straight to the door. 
There's very little to report after this. I went out to get some food to cook etc, but didn't stray too far for about 4 days to keep an eye on Jo. Luckily the YHA wasn't too busy, and had a big tv room in the basement, so we weren't too bored. 
After a few attempts to change our flight so that we could leave NZ after only a week or so (very low on money, so planned to get to the cheap countries asap!), it proved too pricey, so bit the bullet and figured that the cheapest and easiest way to see the country was on the Magic bus.
Our plan meant that we put our application for a Chinese visa in at Auckland, then headed up to the Bay of Islands for a few days, then came back down to pick up the visa, then head South.

We headed North to Paihia in the pissing rain, and it stayed that way for the next day. Was lovely actually, felt just like home! By this point I had almost got used to wearing things on my feet again after being barefoot for so long!
En route, we stopped off at some waterfalls (began with a W I think).
We got to Paihia, wandered around town, and watched another film (on video! Never went out of fashion over here!), went on a short hike to a lookout over the town and some of the islands, and signed up to a tour to Cape Reinga for the next day.








Next morning was an early start on a bus tour to the Northernmost point of NZ that is Cape Reinga, which is a Maori sacred ground thought to be the lifting off point for Maori souls who die in NZ, whose souls must make the trip back to their ancestral grounds around Polynesia. Apparently if you have been good, your wings sprout and you take flight, but if you've been bad then your wings are piddly little things that won't hold your weight, and you plummet into the ocean to be eaten by the sea monster.
Anyway, it's got a lovely lighthouse, and is the point where the Tasman sea and Pacific clash, and you can actually see the swells and waves of different seas lapping each other. 
After wandering around for a bit we got back on the bus and went down to some sand dunes for some sandboarding. My first go I wanted loads of speed so didn't dig my feet in at all. This worked as I flew, but meant I couldn't steer, so went arse-over-tit halfway down. Second, third and fourth run were much better, though almost castrated myself going over a bump where the guy infront of me wiped out!

Tane

From the dunes we drove onto and along 90 mile beach (which isn't actually 90 miles but more like 60). We then stopped off at a Kauri manufacture place where they make furniture and things from the Kauri tree, but as it's protected they can't cut them down anymore. Luckily, a few thousand years ago something (tsunami, volcano etc) knocked over and buried a whole forest of Kauris just beneath the ground, which is perfectly preserved, so there is still a readily available source of the stuff. They're big impressive trees, but to be honest, it's still just like pine. 
Got back to Paihia, and took the Magic bus early the next morning back to Auckland (again) to hopefully pick up our Chinese visa. En route we stopped at Tane Mahuta which is a huge Kauri which Maoris say is the father of all Kauris, and is the child of mother earth and father sky (I think), and to push them apart, he put his back to the ground, legs to the air and grew as high as he could and push the sky up to allow other Kauris (his children) to grow. Maori stories are much better than the bible I think, so much nicer with more whimsy.
Anyway, we saw that, and a bunch of Korean women on the bus obviously liked it so much they thought we were going back, as one of them left her bag there with loads of cash in it, but didn't tell anyone until 2 hours later, and we were almost back in Auckland. God knows if she got it back or not, dozy sod. At least she'll know the way though, as she seemed to have a video camera pressed against the windscreen most of the journey whether we were on motorway, in towns or middle of nowhere. I'll admit NZ is pretty, but not THAT pretty.

Sky City early evening

Anyway, got back to Auckland, spent the following day wandering around the viaduct/marina, fish market, and the SW part of town, then next day headed to the museum which was really good, but massive, so we had to go back the following morning to finish it off before getting the bus out to nowhere to pick up our Chinese visa, which we got really easily, despite having no outbound flight from the country. When we got back into town, we went searching for the Victoria markets, and finally stumbled across them to discover they're having a major refurb and only 1 or 2 shops were open, so we wandered back and found a place on the way called Shed 5 Cycles, which is a cafe/restaurant, but where they custom and refurb motorbikes. Was so cool, loads of old British bikes, and about a third of them were Triumphs. Most were to be auctioned, and the guide prices were so cheap! I spent about half an hour dribbling and mumbling incoherently to myself whilst Jo looked on, then we headed back to YHA (and our freely upgraded room!) for dinner and to pack to head off around the country the following day!