On Wednesday I left Auckland – Which as a city isn’t too bad, but it isn’t great either and it’s definitely not what I came to New Zealand for! I had to catch the Kiwi Experience bus at 7.10am (gross) but I was up on time – When I know that I have to get up for something important I can’t sleep, in case I sleep in, so basically my body wakes me up every 2 hours, seriously weird – does anyone else ever get this or is it just me? It only ever happens when it’s something really important that I can’t miss, I.E. it never happens when it’s something trivial like church or school :)
Anyway, I got up on time, got ready and headed down to the front of the Hostel (bye mean hostel workers) and waited for the bus. I got taking to a few people and then our driver arrived – His name is Dave and he is properly mental patient crazy, which was actually quite nice, he was quite funny and he just chatted away to himself. We stopped off at some Honey cafe place and got breakfast, they had a beehive behind plastic so you could see the bees at work, which was pretty cool, especially after I watched “The Secret Life of Bee’s” on the plane! After that we made a few toilet stops and we got to Paihia by about 12 – it’s about a 4 hour drive, which thanks to M.r iPod wasn’t too bad. As soon as we arrived a friend and I booked a Dolphin Spotting trip – I think it was called the Dolphin Eco Encounter and after getting some lunch we got on the boat.
Now, in relation to lunch, I got a “scone”... It was NOT a “scone”. It tasted like meat. No joke. There was nothing buttery and nice about it, which surprised me. I expect imitation “scones” when I go to America, because in America “scones” are called “biscuits” and they are served with “gravy”, but not in New Zealand, especially as N.Z is like home, but nicer. I probably went a bit crazy with quotation marks there, but it’s to emphasise just how wrong everyone else is with their imitation scones and biscuits and gravy.
Back to Dolphins – we got on the little (well medium sized) boat and our two drivers (two women, who were slightly mental, they had names for all the Dolphins and talked to them and about them like they were people “Oh Spot, where’s your girlfriend?” etc) gave us a little talk about Dolphins and basic boat safety... Then we actually got out to the Bay and began our spotting of Dolhins. It only took us about 10 minutes to find some, they were in really shallow water, which was good because you could see them all really clearly. Sadly we couldn’t swim with them as there were a few baby Dolphins with the group and you can’t swim when there are little babies about. It would have been nice to swim with them, but it was still cool to see so many of them. We spent a while there and then we moved on to find some more, I think we saw about 3 or 4 groups in total, which was really good, especially as some people go out and don’t see any!
Seeing the Dolphins was really nice, but the trip would have been worth it even if we hadn’t seen any... The scenery was so beautiful! Everyone says that the North of N.Z isn’t as nice as the South, which is probably true, but they Bay of Islands is just awesome. There are about 150 Islands, which means a lot of nice beaches!
Towards the end of our Dolphin trip we stopped off on one of these islands, it had a little coffee shop and accommodation for campers, it was amazing. I felt like I was in Thailand (not that I’ve ever been, but I have watched the Beach and it was like that). After getting a hot chocolate in the little cafe (strange as it was a beautiful day, but it was free, so meh) we got back on the boat and came back to Paihia.
After checking into the Hostel and getting myself sorted out I went for a swim! I seem to be a bit of a loner these days, but I quite like it, I like my own company, which is quite good, there is nothing worse than hating being alone with yourself! I wasn’t alone for too long, while swimming I met up with a few guys, they were English and German and we had the traditional Backpacker chat – “So where are you from? How long have you been in New Zealand? Are you with Stray or Kiwi? How much longer do you have? What do you think of New Zealand?”. Backpacker chat is pretty much the definition of small talk, but it’s better because the other person always has something interesting to say, not like when you bump into someone you sort-of-but-don’t-really-know in Cafe (or an equally rubbish club of your choice).
After my swim I got a nice shower and went for a walk to try and locate some food. I went for a chippy and ordered a sausage, just for fun. My word it was minging. New Zealanders obviously haven’t got the art of a good chippy sausage down. It was a beast, properly big and fat and it looked like it had been deep fried because of its crispy outer shell. That was quickly given to the seagulls and I came back to the Hostel and went to bed! I’m a bit of a saddo, going to bed early, but I get so tired here, I think it’s because I walk a lot and I mean a lot – it’s a real change from home, where, on a good day, I move from the sofa to the kitchen and then back to bed!
So basically, today was a good day! Paihia is so beautiful. The Pipi Patch Hostel (which is so much nicer than the Base Hostel in Auckland) is really nice and chilled out, it’s also right beside the beach which is a bonus. The beach is really nice, even better than Ballyholme Beach and the water is actually warm and hopefully not as polluted! Chippy Sausages and Scones are just plain wrong in this country, but other than that, no complaints!
xx
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