Friday was an early start to head up towards Paihia and the Bay of Islands, although due to our antics on the Frenzi Bar Crawl the night before we got very limited sleep and was luckily woken up by someone else in our room. The bus up was just a minibus so it was quite cosy, although I ended up being stuck next to a Portsmouth fan which was interesting. They couldn't really say that much though. En route we stopped in Warkworth for refreshments, before heading up into Whangarei to check out the waterfall. We arrived up in Paihia before lunchtime which was great giving us the whole afternoon on a really sunny day.
Through winning the quiz a couple of nights previous, one of our prizes was a free boat cruise round the islands. As I had already done it previously I let Tom go, whilst I spent the afternoon down the beach to have a nap as I was a little tired. He typically saw lots of dolphins though which they advertise as a 99% chance of seeing, something I didn't see on the cruise before. We met over in Russell though and headed up to the top of Flagstaff Hill which had some great views of the islands and back towards Paihia. We then headed back down to the beach where there was a great sunset, getting the ferry back to Paihia shortly after. It was great though because I met a couple of Saints fans on the boat! We then had a bbq at the hostel in the evening before having a more chilled out evening.
The following day was Tom's birthday although we had a more chilled morning. One thing he's been talking of doing all trip was a skydive so it made sense to do it on his birthday. After lunch we got a shuttle out to the skydive centre and it was fun watching everyone jump out the plane. You couldn't see people until their parachutes opened but it made me wish I was doing one! I forced him to do the 16000ft one which was the highest they offered, and despite shitting himself he did it. Experiencing freefall is a hard feeling to describe but it's amazing so you want to get as much as you can which he thanked me for after! Come evening we went for a few drinks and it was a good night.
Sunday was back down to Auckland, although kiwi experience screwed up because they sent us up on a minibus, and had people already there which meant there were too many people to fit in the minibus. They instead had to send a few people down on an inter city bus a bit later. We volunteered which actually worked out quite well because it meant having a double seat to myself, and meant we could watch the boxing which we would have missed otherwise so it made sense staying later. We even managed to get a few hours down the beach during the day. We didn't arrive back into Auckland until late though but I didn't mind
With Tom leaving on Thursday we had 3 free days in Auckland. It was tempting to go away somewhere for a night but we decided just to be more chilled out. On the Monday we headed out to Western Springs which I haven't actually been to before. The parkland is home to lots of birdlife and it was nice walking round the lake and getting glimpses inside MOTAT and Auckland Zoo. It did however absolutely piss it down with rain in the afternoon. It was pretty mental though as the two other people in our dorm room were from Shoreham which bearing in mind the hostel covered 7 floors and had several rooms on each floor was a funny coincidence.
The following day we were debating between visiting Rangitoto Island or Devonport. We opted for Devonport in the end and left relatively early as we were up so early. After arriving we headed over towards North Head and explore some of the old war shelters and tunnels, as well as checking the view up top. We then headed down to a couple of beachs, before heading back into the village centre for lunch. We then went up Mount Victoria where there were more great views before heading back down and into Auckland city centre. From there we walked along the harbour side towards Mission Bay where we chilled out for the afternoon. On the way back there was a great sunset before getting pizza hut for dinner.
On the Wednesday we had a more chilled out day as the weather was pretty grotty, but it was nice to relax. Thursday was the last day for Tom so we went and sat down Victoria Harbour for a bit before heading to the airport in the afternoon. I went with him as I booked a bus south to leave from Manukau nearby. I was nice to say goodbye after travelling with someone for a month, although it's going to be weird looking for a job and going back to work again!
No comments:
Post a Comment