So the last time I left off, I beleive we were planning to leave the farm and head north to Keri Keri. Our host was gracious enough to give us a ride into town after working a half day. We decided to try our hands and hitch a ride this time, and after less than 10 minutes, a woman named Lynda picked us up on her way to Keri Keri. During the car ride she began to tell us of a small beach town with beautiful hiking trails, close to waterfalls, sea kayaking, dolphin trips, (and the list goes on) called Paihia. Adam and I quickly decided to go to Paihia instead, and hitched a ride with another young woman right into town. We found a hostel called the "Pickled Parrot", and set up our tent! It's saving us some money, and both Adam and I don't mind, so the party tent it has become, and stinky it will remain.
Paihia was quiet the first night we were there, mainly because it was a Tuesday night. However, the following night we both went out to "Salty's" a local bar with a pool table. We ended up meeting some wonderful people there, who we continued to hang out with the rest of our stay in Paihia, and who made our time there much much more than we had ever expected. Naomi, from Scotland, Liz, Quinten, and Renier (Bob) from Holland, Lorna and Paul from England,Monkey, Ben, and 'Seadog' from New Zealand and Ellecor from Japan. We took a trip to Russel, a village a ferry ride across the harbour and went hiking for the day, which was beautiful. They had a gigantic sundail on the ground, with a mosaic map of the area. I do love mosaics! We played some frisbee in the park with Naomi and Lorna, played lots of pool at the pub and went on a dolphin cruise! The Dolphin cruise was incredible, with a 65% chance of swimming with the dolphins, because there are lots of restrictions as to when boats can and cannot swim with dolphins (such as feeding times, if there are babies in the pod). Adam and I were one of the lucky few able to swim with them, which was a real treat! Although the water was very cold and the weather wasn't too great, it was a great day. This time of year is the slow season for Paihia, so Adam and I were two of the four tourists on our boat made for 50, easily! They gave us wetsuits, and we jumped into a huge net that hangs off the boat in the water. With us hanging on the net, they drive the boat near the dolphins, and we swim out of the net, wich snorkels and fins and follow the dolphins. I never realized how massive the dolphins are, and I got a little scared hovering over them in the water. But being able to swim with dolphins in their natural habitat was incredible, and took the cake from our trip to Paihia. After our swimming time we took a cruise around to some of the other islands, spent time on a secluded sandy beach, eating lunch and collecting shells (I can't wait to start making jewelry from some of the stuff of found!)
Near Paihia, outside of a town called Waitangi, is a place called Haruru falls. Lorna, Adam and I set out to Haruru falls after a big rain, so the falls were dirty from all the washed out mud (and no rocks to filter it out) and the trail was also closed for maintenance. So we followed the closed trail for a little while (oops, did i say closed?), then hopped off to do some bushwhacking and found our own little waterfall. Needless to say we weren't the first people there, but it was secluded and really beautiful. Adam and I finished that day by riding our borrowed bikes from our hostel in the rain to get groceries, and cooking a stir fry I'm sure our mom's would be proud of!
We're back in Auckland, basing for now until our next host family, near Cambridge. Hopefully our friend Lorna that we met in Paihia will be joining us, and if not, she'll catch up with us later. If anyone is following on a map, we headed south from Auckland to Cambridge, and using our host family as a base to see Rotorua (east of Cambridge) and the Waitomo Caves (west of Cambridge. After that, maybe Lake Taupo for some hiking in the Toringa National Park, some kayaking, and definitely some adventure!
Hope all is well at home, and that the new year is sweet, like apples and honey!
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