We decided to use our free voucher that entitled us to a free trip to the Bay of Islands. Its about a 4 hour drive each way so we thought it would be better to stay over night rather than rush the trip because we new we wouldn't be able to go back! We did the trip throught kiwi experience, we left Auckland at about 8am on saturday morning and drove north to Pahia. We stopped twice on the way once to stop for a bit of breakfast at a honey shop and the stopped again to look at some very interesting public toilets, which had been designed by an dutch artist. They were very strange and we have photos to show you all when we get home!
We arrived at Pahia at about lunch time. The whole system on the bus seems to work very well and we are guessing that it will be pretty similar when we do our Stray bus around South Island. They send round a list so you can choose your accommodation and another list for trips. It appears that the bus company's manage to get a discount on the trips so its better to book them through the driver rather than do them ourselves. We booked ourselves onto a gentle boat trip for the sunday that sailed around the bay and then to the hole in the rock!
The rest of the saturday we took a short walk up to an observation point where we could see a few of the islands and Russel, which is opposite Pahia and still on the Mainland. It was a short walk and we got a great view from the top. We spent the rest of the day looking around the tourist shops. They were alot niceer then any we had seen in Oz and had some really nice gifts! we had a BBQ at the hostel that night and a few drinks in the bar.
Sunday we had to get up early and go on our boat trip. When we got on the boat we realised that we seemed to be on the same boat as a massive bus tour of old American tourists, we seemed to be the youngest people on the boat by about 50 years and they were typical americans very loud and annoying! The water got a bit rough when we went out the the Hole in the Rock and one American lady even asked a memeber of the crew if they thought we were all going to die! The crew memeber replied camly and said no i think we will be alright.
We got of the boat on one of the bigger islands and had a walk up to a hill ( i think we were practically the only people from our boat to do this the tea and coffee seemed more appealing to everyone else!) The short walk was definatley worth it we got a fab view of the Bay of Islands even if it was a bit windy on the top! The water was amazing it was bright blue and green and not what i had expected in New Zealand at all!
After the trip we had to head back to our bus and return to Auckland. The NZ countryside seemed pretty similar to Wales. It is very rugged and hilly and ofcourse we saw quite alot of sheep! From the little bit of NZ that we saw it seems very beautiful and i cant wait till we get to see the rest of the Country!
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Hi
Hope you are enjoying all that New Zealand has to offer, especially if its bottle shaped! We've just had a great weekend on the Isle of Wight and it was just about as cold as we expect South Island is!
The dancing entertainment was marvellous and Anton du Beke is just like a very cheeky schoolboy and a terrible flirt. Mind you, when he and Erin take to the floor its just amazing!!!!!!!! Mum got 4 kisses from Anton, by the way.
We'll tell you all about it when you get back.
Have you tasted any Cloudy Bay yet? Don't try to bring any back..it'll be too difficult but if you read this after you have left New Zealand with a couple of cases, don't dump them, just take great care.
Send some news as soon as you can. Are you OK for money? Kate, your car is still fine and working well.
Take care
Love Dad
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