Hey all!
Its feb. 16th. Tessa and i have just toured the entire north part of the north island. It was just under 800k of driving in 5 days! pretty intense but really fun. The views are amazing! we traveled up the east side to the bay of islands. I got there pretty late so most of the hostels were well booked. We stayed just outside of town, Paihia, in a beatuiful hostel. It was right next to a river. There we met two deaf guys from Denmark. They were SO animated. We "spoke" with them for most of the night. They were a riot! From there we traveled to Ahipara, a Little little town on the south part of 90 mile beach. It was a WONDERFUL hostel. I took pictures. The place felt like how i wanted my home to be like. It was really welcoming. Three of us took a tour up the beach to Cape Rienga, the northern most tip of NZ. It was beautiful to see the Tasman sea colide with the pacific. The water was a bright inidigo. The bus ride was nice but i vow never to take another one. I can do it all on my own for a much better experience. The three people i'm traveling with, Tessa (from holland), Pete (from england) and Glenn (from NZ but just arrived from Norway) all went out mussel picking early in the morning. They got over 200. We grilled 'em up when we arrived at goat island beach after 7 hours of driving. I tried one, they were tastey.
The goat island is just about 100 yards off shore. There are rock outcroppings coming out the water taht allows you to walk out and peer down the underwater cliffs. There were schools of foot long blue fish and other amazing creatures. The water was a nature preserve so the area was pristine. Now, Tessa and i are traveling through auckland, dropping the boys off and continueing on to raglan. I heard its a cute surf town of the western shore. I'll keep you posted. I'm excited to explore!