The bay of Islands and Auckland

One of the things i really wanted to do while in NZ, was see Cape Regina, for no particular reason other than that i'd seen pictures of people riding the sand dunes and wanted to do it too... so that's how we found ourselves booked on a tour to the very top of NZ..

While researching my trip i found this company (awesome adventures) offering adventures up north with everything included, great i thought and booked it. heaps of problems and phone calls later, with just a day till we were meant to go, it seemed as if our accomodation was booked, but we had no way of getting there... very unorganised.

in the end we were told to be at the office at 7am sharp, where we waited an hour for the bus to arrive...

We ended up on kiwi experience bus, which was all that i expected and oh so much more.. those that have traveled to nz will know what i mean...

lets just say there were three girls in front of us, one was decked out in gold ( i'm talking matching handbag, thongs/jandels/flipflops, wallet earrings shirt... you name it, it was gold, oh and gold eye shadow, the one next to her was the same only in silver, and the one next to that was in bronze...

it was a quick trip straight up getting us to the bay of island around 12pm...

we then had the afternoon to wander about town and entertain ourselves...

had these burgers for lunch at the little cafe near the hostel, and i witnessed a proud moment...

B found a bug in her lettuce, (giant bug) but ate the burger!!!!! (everyone back home was amazed, as was I)

The next day dawned and we joined 30 others on yet another bus trip, with an early morning kick off...

First stop was to see the Ancient Kauri Kingdom and do a short walk around these massive trees..

Before heading right to the top of NZ in Cape Reinga, nothing like standing at the very top of a country with nothing but ocean as far as the eye can see...

The light house, and sign telling you how far it is to all the other major cities... from here london and sydney are in the same direction... just a few thousand Km difference!

It's a very important place for the Maori, as they believed the spirits of the dead depart the earth from here

we stopped for lunch at a little beach down the road, and with the 8 tour bus convoy that had began, managed to snag one of the 8 picnic tables!

Next it was time to het the Ninety Mile beach for some sand on sand action

me all set to go with my board

the giant line up of people out for a slide, we had to climb up the nearly vertical slope to get to the top (it's 100m straight up) and then take a running leap and slide all the way back... the hill was a killer, ever tried walking up slopes of dry sand... one step up = 3 steps back...

it was awesome on the way down though...

i ended up inhaling so much sand though, note to self don't scream when you're hurling down a sand dune!!!!

i had a few goes before my legs just refused to climb up there any more...

next we drove along the beach (in the bus) seems at low tide everyone uses it as a road, gettng up to 100km an hr...

Stopped a few times for pictures before heading back to the main road... stopped in this little town for fush and chups..

Before heading back to the bay of islands.

It was a long day, but well worth the effort, the scenery was great, and hey how often do you get to ride 100m sand dunes!

Awoke to rain rain and more rain, perfect weather for out Jet boating adventure...

B was spitting chips at having to go..

but we went got to dress up in those attractive plastic suits, that just look attractive on everyone... NOT!

The before picture

now those of you that have grown up aound the beach or water, know that bad weather, brings big waves...

we got some massive waves once we hit open water... i had to grab hold of the bar in order to not fly out the side... (ended up with a lovely bruise across my arse from the drops!)

it was too huge a swell to get through the hole in the rock, shame..

though i have to say there's nothing like speeding through rain at 100kms an hr... it stung like anything... (but i now have a lovely soft face!)

Looking like a drowned rat, but a happy one!

Now through out the trip i've noticed more and more changes in B's behaviour, once shy of being in the picture, now lets me order her about!

trying to catch the bird!

Headed back to Auckland at 4pm, arriving around 7pm...

we'd shouted ourselves to a night of comfort in the Crowne Plaza hotel...

didn't we look the manky backpackers trundling in after a day on the water...

I think i saw B's first real smile of the trip!!!!

being late we decided to hit the hotel restraunt for dinner...

i don't think i'm cut out for posh places i tell you...

for one it was expensive, and i couldn't decipher what each meal entailed... much to my amusement...

i was all for ditching it and going somewhere else, but B refused, so in the end i just ordered dessert

$14

B's dinner, at $44 possibly not the bargin of the day

Ended up heading down to the good old golden arches soon after dinner, for a cheeseburger!

morning dawned and we thought that we'd do breakie at the hotel, cause how can you go wrong with breakie...

when we first booked it was $30 extra for breakie to be included, we'd declined and said we'd decided on the day...

anyways they had a great selection for breakie anything you could imagine, and delightful pastries...

my good old traveling days had me wishing for a snap lock bag to cart some goodies off for later... but i refrained

it wasn't until we checked out, and saw that breakfast had been $30 each...

we were like what the? there i was thinking $15 was expensive, and that i'd eaten no where near that... then to find out it was doubled!!!!

but what can you do but laugh!

It was definitely a fun trip with loads of mini adventures, i think my cousin and I are much closer for it and understand each other that little more.