Day 129 - Auckland - Paihia, New Zealand
Day 129 – 15th October 2005 +12:00 GMT Total Miles 26847
Had the free breakfast at the hotel then packed our bags ready to move on. Reece and I ventured out to find the car hire place, stopping on route to purchase an A-Z of New Zealand. We picked up the car which is an old battered Toyota with 147,000 Km on the clock, at least it was cheap. Drove back to the hotel and picked up Jill and all the bags and we hit the road. We drove North on the 1, we took a little detour to try and find a 187 M Boulder but we could not find it so carried on until we reached Warkworth where we took smaller roads until we reached the town of Leigh. Here they have a large marine base which protects the coral reef. We walked along the beach and the rocks and saw hundreds of tropical fish. The views from here of Goat Island are great.
Views from Leigh
Jill in Leigh
We carried on until we reached Mangawhai Heads a small village near Mangawhai Harbour, here we stopped for some Battered Sausage and Chips. Then back on the road a bit of cross country driving until we reached Waipu. Other than the main Highways most of the roads in New Zealand are just gravel roads. Now Waipu is a Scottish Highlander Settlement and had a large monument with a Rampant Lion at the top of it. They have a heritage centre here explaining the history of the town.
Waipu's Rampant Lion
Waipu
Anyway we carried on to Whangarei where they have a large waterfall, so we stopped and took a short walk and found the 28m fall which looked pretty spectacular, then back to the car it was.
Whangarei Waterfall
Whangarei Waterfall
Next we headed to Kawakawa which claims to have the poshest public toilets in the world, this is a big tourist attraction for them, we drove past but did not stop. There is the New Zealand rally going on at the moment and between Kawakawa and Paihia there are rally cars everywhere. We arrived in Paihia at around 5pm and checked into the Peppertree Lodge Hostel, we were greeted by a friendly guy at reception and shown around the place. Jill and I got a nice double room with ensuite bathroom. Here we have free access to kayaks, Mountain bikes, Tennis courts and much more. The Hostel is less than a minute from the beach and in an area called the bay of islands, the town Paihia is fairly small. Reece and I decide we would head straight out on the mountain bikes so spent 45 minutes exploring the area. Then after returning the bikes we all went out to the pub and had a beer and watched the rugby semi’s. We then had a walk along the sea front and found a restaurant for dinner. After we had eaten we went back to the hostel and collapsed for the night.
Had the free breakfast at the hotel then packed our bags ready to move on. Reece and I ventured out to find the car hire place, stopping on route to purchase an A-Z of New Zealand. We picked up the car which is an old battered Toyota with 147,000 Km on the clock, at least it was cheap. Drove back to the hotel and picked up Jill and all the bags and we hit the road. We drove North on the 1, we took a little detour to try and find a 187 M Boulder but we could not find it so carried on until we reached Warkworth where we took smaller roads until we reached the town of Leigh. Here they have a large marine base which protects the coral reef. We walked along the beach and the rocks and saw hundreds of tropical fish. The views from here of Goat Island are great.
Views from Leigh
Jill in Leigh
We carried on until we reached Mangawhai Heads a small village near Mangawhai Harbour, here we stopped for some Battered Sausage and Chips. Then back on the road a bit of cross country driving until we reached Waipu. Other than the main Highways most of the roads in New Zealand are just gravel roads. Now Waipu is a Scottish Highlander Settlement and had a large monument with a Rampant Lion at the top of it. They have a heritage centre here explaining the history of the town.
Waipu's Rampant Lion
Waipu
Anyway we carried on to Whangarei where they have a large waterfall, so we stopped and took a short walk and found the 28m fall which looked pretty spectacular, then back to the car it was.
Whangarei Waterfall
Whangarei Waterfall
Next we headed to Kawakawa which claims to have the poshest public toilets in the world, this is a big tourist attraction for them, we drove past but did not stop. There is the New Zealand rally going on at the moment and between Kawakawa and Paihia there are rally cars everywhere. We arrived in Paihia at around 5pm and checked into the Peppertree Lodge Hostel, we were greeted by a friendly guy at reception and shown around the place. Jill and I got a nice double room with ensuite bathroom. Here we have free access to kayaks, Mountain bikes, Tennis courts and much more. The Hostel is less than a minute from the beach and in an area called the bay of islands, the town Paihia is fairly small. Reece and I decide we would head straight out on the mountain bikes so spent 45 minutes exploring the area. Then after returning the bikes we all went out to the pub and had a beer and watched the rugby semi’s. We then had a walk along the sea front and found a restaurant for dinner. After we had eaten we went back to the hostel and collapsed for the night.
posted by Simon at 4:04 PM
1 Comments:
The waterfall is lovely!
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