Left Auckland after a day of acclimatisation to go to Paihia in the North near the Bay of Islands. Amazing countryside - hills and valleys... everything a Dutch girl isn't used to. Not hot, not cold,
just right... until it started to rain. Arrived in Paihia around mid-day to pouring rain. I booked a kayak excursion, but had to cancel that when I was told "the guides won't want to take you out. You wouldn't get very far with this swell anyway...". So like a sheep I joined the rest of the herd on the Excitor boat (http://www.excitor.co.nz/main.html) - basically an expensive drag-boat type of monster that races and bumps accross the waves towards the Hole In The Rock... which is a hole in a rock funnily enough. The boat is uncovered and I elected to take the last of the hazardous "extra excitement" seat in the front that came with a seatbelt... which turned out to definitely not be an unnecessary luxury. Bruised and battered, soaked to the bone, but picture of hole in the rock richer!First night in an 8-person dorm at a hostel called the Pipi Patch. All good and well, great people, lots of laughter - until sleepytime. 2 were battling it out for World's Loudest Snore... since they tied for first place, they just elected to go in tandem for the rest of the night. I tried iPod, earplugs, ipod + earplugs - yes, it is possible - but no result. Bleary eyed I awoke to yet more rain today.
The rain just got worse and worse! Waitengi Day (New Zealand Treaty between Europeans and Maoris) was a washout...everything I wore ended up wet. 2 pairs of shoes didn't survive - feeling very fortunate that I am incapable of travelling light and thus have a further 5 pairs to choose from (excluding the high-heeled strappy sandals that are not classified as shoes). Its so bad that you're soaked as soon as you step outside! Since this is meant to be a positive blog, on the upside, means I don't need to wash my hair! Result :)
No comments:
Post a Comment