The REAL Fun Begins

I think that we have finally reached the fun of the adventure.

My trip to Paihia and Auckland was nothing short of spectacular. Regardless, I was definitely ready to pack up and head home by the end of it. I got back Monday morning and am now making a quick turnaround to head to Taupo, one of New Zealand's biggest lakes, tomorrow. More on that later.

I spent much of last Thursday busing up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Firstly, there is a reason that it is called the Bay of Islands. When the British explorers first came to New Zealand, it was the Bay of Islands that they first settled. The treaty of Waitangi, the initial British-Maori peace treaty, was signed in Paihia. They (and it might have even been the famous James Cook) counted the islands in the bay area around Paihia and Russel, and there are 144. So the explorers decided to fittingly call the area, "The Bay of Islands."

Paihia, where we spent our two nights, is a more bustling town then Russel, which is on the other side of the bay, although that really is not saying much. For a comparison, think about visiting Nantucket or the cape in the winter time and you will have a pretty good comparison for our visit to the bay. But that was just fine by Walker and I. Hostile prices were down, and we did not have to worry about tourists everywhere. For the most part, we were able to run the tourist scene.

After throwing our stuff in the hostile, we ran off to try and get a quick hike in before it got dark. We were able to make it up a pretty annoying little hill to a beautiful overlook of the bay.

We then hustled back down to beat the darkness, made some dinner at the hostile, and went to bed. It had been a long day of traveling.

Knowing that we had no set plan for day two, we woke up with the birds and went to seek out our options. Luckily for us the bus for Cape Reinga had not yet departed. So by 730 we were on the bus and headed off on a three hour journey north to the northern most point of New Zealand, where the great Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. I was really interested in the sand boarding segment of the trip though (don't know sand boarding? Don't worry, we will get to it). Little did I know that I would see so much more.

The trip started off with a journey into the Kaori forest. The Kaori is a giant redwood like tree that is found throughout the South Pacific. It is said that if you hug a Kaori tree, you will be completely cleansed by the next morning. Our quirky bus driver told us that this should be our excuse to go on a bender that evening.

We then headed to the 90 mile beach. Now, normally I would not get that excited about driving a bus down the beach. But what makes this beach unique is that it is so long, without any hint of settlement. You just don't see that anymore with today's demands for prime real estate. In fact 90 mile beach is not actually 90 miles (they believe its really about 64). The best guess as to how it became called 90 mile beach is that when the cattle drivers used to bring their cows from one end to the other, it would take them three days. They figured they were going about 30 miles a day, so they figured it was about 90 miles. I guess in reality they were only going about 21 a day. Regardless, its a pretty spectacular beach, and we even got to drive right up to a seal pup.

As you look away from the water, you see the giant sand dunes behind the beach (see the hills in the way back of that picture? Yea, all sand), which could only mean one thing: it was time to sand board.

Going into the sand boarding, I didn't know what to expect. Well, when we pulled up in front of the dunes it was pretty clear that this was not a sport for wimps. The driver told us that we could be going as fast as forty mph. On a boogie board. Down a sand dune. But I was ready. I had already psyched myself up for this. Perhaps the most daunting task, however, was the climb to the top of the dune. I told Walker that, "now I know how Moses felt." Every time you would take a step up, you would slide half a step down. That's just how tall these monster dunes are. Even this picture does not do it justice.

But oh man was the ride down sweet. I could not believe how fast you could cruise down on those boards. The end result looks something like this (thanks to my great photographer, Walker). And yes, in case you were wondering I did end up with a mouth full of sand after the picture below was taken...

I had a blast but it was Walker that stole the show. He was cruising the fastest and farthest of anybody, including the bus driver. We then loaded up the bus and headed to Cape Reinga.

Cape Reinga is known as one of the more spiritual spots in New Zealand, mostly because its beauty takes most peoples breath away. On our way to the cape, our bus driver told us about this aspect of our next stop. He told us the story of how his son died and how he was not able to get over the tragedy until he came up to Cape Reinga. It is a place where people come to say their final words to lost loved ones and release their burden of grief. It was at that point that I had a realization of my own.

One of the reasons I decided to come to New Zealand was because of the rugby culture. Few places in the world have a rugby culture like New Zealand's. European countries have soccer, Australia has footie; perhaps the only place that can compare is South Africa. But secretly, I wanted to come to this rugby mecca to pay tribute to my high school rugby coach, Iain Ryrie. For those of you who do not know, Coach Ryrie died last year after a battle with cancer. When he passed, I had not just lost a coach, but I had lost a mentor and friend. Now, I don't know if Coach Ryrie ever came to New Zealand, but I'm sure he would have loved it. Not only is rugby so much a part of the culture here, but the arts are as well. He would have loved it. I realized that my trip to Cape Reinga was to honor Coach Ryrie. So as I sat out on the end of the cape, I silently said some final words to my coach and threw some sand into the wind. I finally felt some closure on his passing.

On a lighter note, Cape Reinga has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is pretty cool watching the Tasman Sea meet and collide with the Pacific Ocean, creating a deep turquoise sea. We also happened to have fabulous weather, which is always a bonus in this country.

After leaving Cape Reinga, I think it was pretty safe to say that we were all pretty exhausted. As I am sure that you can tell, we had already done a lot for one day. But the day was still very young. On the way home, we stopped for an early dinner at the Mangonui Fish Market, for some of their world famous fish and chips.

What makes fish and chips here better from anywhere else? Well for one the fish that we were eating at five had been caught that afternoon. It was easily some of the freshest fish I had ever had. Fry it to a crisp golden brown and splash some vinegar and lemon on top (and a Tui on the side), and these fish and chips were damn hard to beat. It was tough to eat on the bus, but they were still delicious. For me, though, the mark of freshness had to be the presentation. Our meal was wrapped in parchment paper, as if we had just gotten some raw fish from the market to prepare ourselves. I love that.

We were back at the hostile by quarter of six, ready to shower up and watch some rugby. It was a big night for rugby, as the Waikato Chiefs (based in Hamilton), were playing the Christchurch Crusaders. The Chiefs were favored, but the Crusaders made a classic out of it. In the end, the Chiefs won 20-17, catapulting themselves into the Super 15's league final this Friday in Hamilton. Unfortunately, I had already planned trips for both weekends so I will be unable to go to either. But I will make it to a rugby game! The amount of parody among the rugby teams here is amazing. I have yet to see a bad game.

After a long Friday, we weren't really sure what Saturday would bring. So we woke up early again, checked out of the hostile, and headed to watch the opening ceremonies. We were also trying to wait out the rainstorm that was looming overhead. After the ceremonies, we had about 5 hours to do something before our bus came to pick us up. That unfortunately meant that we wouldn't be able to do the longer Piahia hike that goes past where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed and heads up to a gorgeous waterfall. Instead we took a ferry across the bay to Russel. Walker and I both agreed that Russel got us a little homesick. It reminded me a lot of Nantucket. Very old, quaint little town, right on the water, with old whaling roots. We walked around a bit, there wasn't too much to do there, before coming across an old French Missionary Museum. There we were able to see how French missionaries were able to print and distribute Maori christian documents throughout New Zealand, in order to convert the Maori. We also stopped by a church that had bullet holes in the side of it from when the Maori had fought there. But more surprising was that in the back of the graveyard was a tombstone for an old Nantucket whaler who had made his way over to New Zealand. Interesting coincidence.

I think we decided that we needed one more day in Piahia. For all my New Zealand friends out there, if you go to the Bay of Islands, make sure you have 2.5-3 days there. 

That night we headed back down to Auckland to meet up with my buddy Mike Baranowsky who was stopping through New Zealand on his way back to the states from a month and a half in Austalia. We went out and did the college boy thing for the evening. We sent Sunday exploring Auckland, heading to the Antarctic Aquarium for a good part of the day, and then watched the Olympics that evening. We were all pretty exhausted.

I headed back to Hamilton Monday morning for three days of classes, followed by a quick turnaround for Taupo. I leave in a few hours.

It certainly is busy over here, and I think I understand the life of a businessman a little bit better now. The traveling life is a lot of fun, but it is exhausting. I think I will appreciate not living in hostiles for four nights a week after this weekend.

Ill talk to you guys after Taupo, have a great weekend!

Wilson