Time sure flies when your having fun!
I left Auckland Wednesday morning to start my first Magic bus trip to the Northland. It's been amazing so far. Not that many people on the bus, maybe 15-20, as we aren't in the high tourist season yet. It's great for us travellers, as you get all the space you need, no line-ups and no problems reserving stuff as you go. It started off well, with a good crowd, if a bit shy and quiet. The main stop of this trip is to the town of Paihia, the "main" town in the Bay of Islands. This place is breathtakingly beautiful, and I mean that quite literally. It's all hills around here, so walking around does take your breath away, at least mine ;-) But seriously, it is simply gorgeous. If this is any indication of the rest of the country, I'm in for a great time.
I've done a cruise of the Bay of Islands, saw some dolphins and the most amazing untouched beaches and islands. I've also had a day trip up to Cape Reinga, the northernmost spot in NZ. The views are spectacular, you see where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific Ocean. The day trip also takes you to giant sanddunes, where the more adventurous can try sandboarding. Needless to say I was the official picture taker for our crowd. I had 5 different cameras and had to try and remember which went with which person. That was adventure enough for me!
Another cool part to the day is the ride back. A stretch of 90 km of beach, called 90-mile beach (go figure!) is actually considered a highway! Max speed 100 km an hour, you ride on the beach, over sand and little streams of water, as if you were speeding down the 10 in direction of Sherbrooke!
It's hard to convey how beautiful this place is, but I'll try an upload some pictures when I manage to get a decent Internet connection. I'd really love to update the blog more often, but hey! I've been busy for one and Internet is really expensive for another... So I do my best.
Next leg of the journey starts (hopefully) on Sunday with a trip to the lower part of the North Island. More on that later.
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6 comments:
Your updates are real good and very interesting to read. You are definitely doing a good job keeping us posted, don't worry about it. The magic bus sounds so good and definitely the way to go. Je suis jalouse. Take care and continue having fun.
Sis,
SOunds absolutely wonderful. I also felt a little twinge of jealousy ! It's so great to follow you on this trip, I was telling Gerry and Melissa last night that your adventures will likely inspire us to travel in places we never would have thought of otherwise.
XOX
Hey SIs,
Me again. I just downloaded the newest version of Google earth and checked out the towns you visited. Wow....They had several pictures of lighthouses, landscapes, sunrises, sunsets, coastlines. It looks beautiful. For those of you visiting the blog, you just have to download the free google earth application and search for the towns. Its really amazing.
Janie, continue giving us town names so we can visit along with you.
Love Jackie
Wow! C'est cool de pouvoir suivre ton voyage Janie! Content de voir que ça va bien de ton côté. Et si tu as des petits "down", pense à nous qui sommes peut-être en appel conférence... ;-)
Si tu vois des hobbits ou des elfs en Nouvelle-Zélande, prends des photos STP! :-)
Jonathan
Hello there,
Sun. 5p.m.just looked at your pictures. You are very good. The scenery is great. I'm glad that you are never alone if you don't want to. Oh those domestic chores. You make your entries very informative. It's cold here today. had a nice visit with San & Stu today. All is well here and we are getting ready to leave on Nov.8th. to head for the sun in Fl. I was told that N.Z. was the meca for backpackers and that the Kiwis are one of the nicest people in the world. Some have already proven that to you. Keep on trecking and be happy
love
mom & Dad
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