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| The view from the outlook in Whangarei on a beautfully clear day!!! |
| Glenn's Journal 01-19-03 thru 01-21-03 New Zealand Today was a drive day as we had planned to drive to the Bay of Islands which was listed at 6 hours from Waitomo. We were packed and out of the hostel before 10:00 am checkout time. We took a few minutes to call our parents as it is my mother's birthday today (the 18th back in the states) and Erin had not spoken with her mom for a few weeks as well. (Reminder that we are 18 hours ahead of the East Coast, 21 hours ahead of the West Coast, and 23 hours ahead of Hawaii, where my sister lives.) It is pretty wierd being almost a full day ahead of our friends. After the phone calls we headed off to the Bay of Islands. We stopped for lunch just north of Auckland before continuing the drive. During our stop we made a few phone calls to hostels in Paihia and they were all full. That sounded somewhat discouraging but it was getting late so we decided to stop in Whangarei, an hour south of the Bay of Islands. We found a holiday park near the town that had a ensuite with kitchen for $65 NZ per night. It was after 5:00 pm by now so we took it. After dropping our bags we went into town for some grocery shopping. The rest of the evening was spent cooking dinner and cathcing a movie on television. We crashed just after midnight. 01-20-03 New Zealand Monday morning and we had planned to drive up to the Bay of Islands and otherwise enjoy a beach day. After breakfast we made our way to Paihia where we stopped to enjoy the beach for a few hours. The Bay of Islands is a beautiful part of the Northlands with over 140 islands that give the area it's name. We took a few photos and watched the boats, kayaks, and swimmers play in the Bay. After a few hours at Paihia we continued on to KeriKeri where we spent some time window shopping and enjoying ice cream cones. After a few hours here we continued on to Opito Bay where we, again, relaxed on the beach while enjoying the view and reading our books. It was overall a "fun in the sun" day. We drove back to Whangarei, stopped at the market for dinner, and then on to the holiday park and our room. We watched another movie together before calling it a night. We needed to end our New Zealand adventure on a relaxing note and we did!! 01-21-03 New Zealand Tuesday morning and we decided to stay another night in Whangarei. We checked with reception and found that we could stay so we booked for another night. Today we would drive around the Whangarei area seeing the sites and stop at a few beaches along the way. It was a little overcast to start the day but we hoped it would clear up later. After breakfast and both of us spending some time working on journals we finally got a start to the day. We drove into Whangarei and spent the first few hours at the Town Basin which has many quaint shops and restaraunts. After stopping at the Town Basin we found an internet cafe and spent a hour checking and sending e-mails. It was now getting on to 1:30 pm and we were both getting hungry. We drove to the Whangarei lookout where we enjoyed the view and ate lunch. The day was starting to warm as the sun tried to peak its head out. We then drove along the Whangarei Harbor coast to Ocean Beach where we found another beautiful spot to sit and enjoy the views. After an hour or so here we slowly drove back into town, bought some more groceries, and returned to our room. We had dinner and watched part two of the movie from Monday night before calling it a night. Tomorrow we are going back to Auckland for a Thursday departure back to Australia. |
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| The beach in Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Plenty of watersports to go around here!!! |