Kiwi birds, kiwi fruit, Kiwi people; they should just put a picture of a kiwi on the map and tell everyone that’s what New Zealand looks like. I started my new adventure in Auckland on the North end of the North Island. Auckland is not the capitol of NZ, even if it is the only place most people can name. The capitol is Wellington at the Southern tip of the North Island. I’ll be stopping there before hopping over to the South Island.

I only have about 2 weeks on each island, so as you’ll see, I won’t be in any one place very long. I spent only one full day in Auckland, but that was enough. I hate being in big cities on this trip. I’m here to see things I can’t see in the U.S., big buildings aren’t on that list.

While wandering around, I happened upon the Symonds Street Cemetary. We had passed it on the airport shuttle bus and I thought it looked like a really beautiful, quiet place in the middle of a bustling city. I wasn’t wrong. There were some walking tracks in and around the cemetary, so I actually spent about 45 minutes there.

The Auckland Arts Festival happened to be going on, so on my 2nd night I went to a show called “Horror” at the Civic Theatre. It wasn’t really what I expected, but I thought it was fantastic. There were no speaking lines, but the use of lighting, effects and even the actor/actress movements were captivating.

Adele was coming to town for the weekend, so accomodation was impossible to find and ridiculously expensive if you could find any. Peace out, Auckland. Go get ’em, Adele!!

I hopped on a bus to Paihia (Bay of Islands), which was going to be the base for my trip to Cape Reinga. Paihia is gorgeous, but it’s basically just a tourist spot. The whole town is hotels, motels, backpackers and beach bars. Water sports and ferry tours out to the islands dominate the list of things to do in town.

If all of my family and friends would like to move to Paihia, I’d be ok with buying a fishing boat and running charter tours for the rest of my life here. Take your time and think about it guys!!

When I checked into my hostel and went to my dorm room, I was greeted with an amazing surprise!!

After 2 months in twin sized bunk beds, you can’t possibly understand how happy I was to see a unoccupied double bed in my room!! Honestly, the only thing that could have made it better would have been a pile of cash to roll around in. I would have turned down sex that first night if it meant sharing that bed…..well, maybe not, but I would have thought about it.

Anyway, I left my bed (full of fear that I would return and some couple would have taken it), and headed for the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

The treaty grounds are the site where New Zealand’s founding document was signed in 1840. When I got to the visitor centre, I found out it was $40 to get in and decided against spending the money.

The next day, I took a walk to Haruru Falls. The whole walk took about 5 hours and I’ve seen more picturesque waterfalls while standing drunk at a urinal, but I’ll take 5 hours of just me and my headphones any chance I can get.

On Sunday, I took a day trip to Cape Reinga, which is where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. Cape Reinga is at the Northern tip of New Zealand and it is the Maori belief that when they die, their spirits leave their body and travel across the land to Cape Reinga. The spirits descend the roots of an 800 year old pohutukawa tree, into the ocean, travel to Three Kings Islands, where they climb to the highest point, Ohaua, and look back to the mainland to bid their final farewell before returning to Hawaiiki-A-Nui, the land of their ancestors.

After Cape Reinga, we headed down the road a little bit to the Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes for some sandboarding. I was disappointed when I found out we’d be going down the dunes on our stomachs instead of surfing down them. When I asked the tour guide, he insisted that I’d go to the hospital if I tried to surf down them. He obviously doesn’t know me very well. No sand dune is sending me to the hospital.

Anyway, he showed us the proper way to go down the hill and told everyone to take it slow and use our feet as brakes on the first run. I went first and made sure my feet were nowhere near the sand on the way down. Once everyone had gone, he took some of us over to the steeper slope. Before I went, he handed me the board he had and said, “This one is brand new. It’ll go faster.” I love being that guy. For some reason, it doesn’t take me long to earn that reputation on these tours either. I had a blast even though I wasn’t allowed to surf down, but after the 4th walk up the dune, my quads were jelly.

From the dunes, we traveled down 90 mile beach for about an hour before getting back on the road. The weather forecast had called for rain all day, but we got lucky and it held off until the ride back to Paihia.

My nights in Paihia were uneventful even though I was at a party hostel. I’m trying not to drink at all while I’m in New Zealand.

I’m off to Matamata now, where I’ll do the Hobbiton tour tomorrow. Pretty sure that one is going to get it’s own post. After the tour, I’m going to try and hitch a ride to Rotorua to see the geothermal park. This is where I think the trip is going to get real cool. Should be something new and exciting everyday!!

HAKUNA MATAMATA!!!