Paihia/KeriKeri/Matauri Bay - 17/11/06

Hey Guys

Well what have I been up to? Not much to tell the truth. We came to Paihia a couple of weeks ago, it is not a nice town - it is the NZ equivalent of the Koa San Road in Bangkok - all backpacker hostels, pubs and bars although it is an entry point to the Bay of Islands which is stunning. Once you go north or south of Paihia you get back to the real NZ. I know I am a backpacker but I am a snobbish backpacker who does not like to stay in places which are squirmining with people like me.

When I was in Paihia I went on a days sail on the Tucker Thompson which is a replica of the Tall Ships that were used by Captain Cook and fellow explorers. The sun shone, the skies were blue and the day was amazing. We moored off Roberton Island which is where Cook first anchored when he arrived in the Bay of Islands. The dingy took us a shore and the Island is truely beautiful as you will see as there are pictures on Flickr. There are two houses on the Island and one is on the beach and it has its own rickety jetty. The guy that owns that house owns many businesses in Paihia so he is obviously stinking rich if he can afford a house on the Island.

We went to KeriKeri last Friday the 10th, it is a very clean and pretty town 35km north of Paihia. We stayed in a caravan park and pitched our tent by a river which was heavenly although the sound of the running river meant Isla had to get up 2 or 3 times in the night to go to the loo. I went on a lovely walk to the Rainbow falls, it was a 12 mile round trip journey as I had to walk 3 miles to the start of the track that took me to the waterfall and it was 3 miles there and back and then another 3 to get home, I was dying for a large cold glass of white wine once i got back to town but there was no pubs or bars open as it was a Sunday. KeriKeri was really weird like that - the shops shut at noon on Saturday and nothing opened on a Sunday, it was like travelling back in time.

We went on a one day to tour to Cape Reinga which is the Nothern most point in NZ. Cape Reinga was beautiful, there was a massive white dune beach to the East and it is where the Tasman Sea and the South Pacific Ocean meet. We had 30 minutes at Cape Reinga (warning - incoming rant...) which was totally rubbish as it took 10 minutes to walk to the tip where the lighthouse was and 10 minutes to walk back again. The guide told us about 2 beautiful walks one could do but what was the point of that if we only had 30 minutes to spend there... I was fuming because they took us to a coffee shop in the morning to spend our money, then a Kauri tree tourist shop in the afternoon to spend our money and then to a chippie to spend even more of our money (totalling at least an hour and a half) but we only got 30 minutes at the Cape - ah well its the nature of the beast i suppose - you cannot do what you want on organised tours....

On the way back we got dropped off at the intersection to Matauri Bay and got a lift there no problem from a Kiwi guy with Scottish heritage (as they all have), his middle name was Hamish and he was ginger and he went to a predominantly Maori school - not a good combination really, he admitted he got into a fair few fights at school... I saw a picture of Mataur Bay in the local rag and it looked beautiful so we decided a couple of days camping by the beach was what the doctor ordered. The weather had been glorious for the past few days so I was dreaming of dips in the sea, reading in the sun and relaxing. We got there at 7pm and had an early night as we were knackered. By 1am the rain had started as did the gale force wind, i swear I thought my tent was going to blow away. I had a fitful nights sleep and woke up at 9am hoping the rain would stop by noon as it has done in the past, no such luck - it rained all day and all night. Now the rain would not have been so bad if we were camping at a hostel or a campsite with decent facilites, such as a common room, as we could hide out there but no such luck - there was a kitchen which stank of grease (you know the smell of layers of grease on walls, surfaces and seats) and it only had a picnic bench to sit on - luxury. We did meet a Chilean guy called Cristain and 2 Kiwi carpenters who were staying at the campsite as they were building a lodge near by, they have been working on it for 5 months and i think it is nearly finished. Most of the houses in NZ are made from wood so carpenters and not brickies are employed to build houses from scratch. We hung out with them that night and drank beer, played darts and cards (I taught them regimental rummy) so it was a fun night. The Kiwi's had constructed a wooden hut around their caravan and they had a gas BBQ which they turned on to keep us warm so it was rather a luxurious night by all accounts. When we woke up the next morning it was still raining, luckily we met a lady called Rayan who was heading to Whangeria that day so she gave us a lift to Paihia - so much for an idylic couple of days by the beach...

In 1985 the Rainbow Warrior (a Greenpeace support vessel) was moored at Auckland Harbour, it was blown up by the French and one man died. The Kiwi's asked if the Rainbow Warrior could be moved to Matauri Bay and it was in 1987 and is now a dive site and there is A memorial to it erected on the hill just above Matauri Bay.

Possums - there are 90 million (no joke) possums in New Zealand, that is a lot considering there are only 4 million homosapiens living here. The Australian brush tailed possum was introduced into New Zealand in 1837 to establish a fur trade which did not take off as hoped however, the possum population did take off.... Possum killing is a national sport in NZ, either by gun or by car (you just run them over) or you teach your dog to hunt and kill them - its up to you. One guy we talked to killed 85 in one night. They eat huge amounts of the vegetation and are considered a pest. Jeremy (one of the contractors we met a sheep world) was attacked by a possum one night - he was left with lots of scratches on his face. We have been assured that possum attacks on humans are not that common in NZ...

We are going back to Auckland today with Lisa, a Canadian chick we met at the hostel.

Take Care

Love

Me
xx