Just Arrived

After 12 hours of flying Bethany and I were excited to be in our first destination: Paihia, NZ.. just to relax on the beach and read the guidebooks, unwind and decide what we wanted to do. Neither of us had a a plan or wanted a plan for our extended trip. Bethany has 6 weeks to travel New Zealand and anywhere we end up in the South Pacific before she returns home to spend Christmans with her family in Danville, CA.

Bethany wanted to stay at a hostel chain known as Base, Pipi Patch. She has stayed at this Hostel in Queenstown about 3 years ago and had an amazing time.

Pipi Patch

Just as I had envisioned , I took a long nap on the Paihia Beach on the first day. The second day we rented bikes. We had an amazing ride to a horseshoe shaped waterfall, Haruru and rode around the grounds of the Treaty of Waitangi. This is where the Maori and the New Zealanders decided to share the Island a long time ago.

The next day, again, without plans we ended up boarding a The Rock Tour by the recommendation of our bunk mate Laura Gill, a young british woman traveling alone since her split with her boyfirend. The Rock is an oversized houseboat that houses 28 travelers and a staff of about 5. The bunk rooms were no more than 6 cots (3 bunks) and a small place 3x3 ft area to stand. Bethany and I shared our small room with a family from Uraguay; a mother, daughter, about 23 and a son, 28. The daughter had been there for quite some time on a working/holiday visa. The mother and son had come out for 3 weeks to vist and tour NZ. The majority of passangers were on working/holidy visa; a yourg girl from Germany, Barbara from Argentina, with a remarkable American Accent due to a prior profession as an MSN technical support at a call in center, and several traveling couples from aroung the world.

That night we night kayaked off of the The Rock to an island and watched the shooting stars. Bethany made fast friends with a number of the crew and as usual was the life of the eveining... well she would have been if it wasn't for the sloshed girls from I'm not sure where.

The next day were were pleasantly greeted by playful dolphins trailed by dolphin tour boats. I got one good shot. I'm still learning all of the settings on my camera.

The Rock docked at a beautiful beach on the other side of a town called Russell. To us it felt as if we were on the edge of the Pacific.

There we kayaked, hiked to the top of a scenic view, played a game of beach cricket and lunched.

After the Rock, we entered the Harbor and returned to the Pipi Patch where our belongings were stored in a locker waiting for our return.

There were stayed two more nights. Those days included a Rock reunion at our Pipi Patch bar, an amazing filo chicken curry wrap at a cafe overlooking the Bay of Islands and a lounging day at Base skyping and relaxing.