Katy's Oz-some Blog: New Zealand...Cherub Capital of the World

Saturday morning after checking out of our sweet room at Peppertree Lodge, we walked from Paihia to Waitangi, about an hour and a half round trip. That’s when we first started to notice the cherubs….aka little kids who look like angels. We grabbed lunch at a Swiss restaurant and I had my 2nd New Zealand beer, this time it was Manteith’s Raglan. Very delicious, fruity and sparkling. Then we picked up some ‘nibbles’ aka snacks, and relaxed in a park until our cruise left. We took a tender from the Paihia Wharf to our home for the next night, The Rock Boat. The boat was a barge that was renovated to house a living room, bar, bathrooms, pool table, fireplace downstairs and a second story with bunk rooms was added. It looks like a giant floating cabin. Sarah and I lucked out and go our own room, while others had to share tiny rooms with 6 bunks that were ½ twin beds.

The staff introduced themselves, and 3 looked like grown up cherubs! As soon as we took up anchor they started the shooting competition, which was air rifles vs. a floating plastic duck we were pulling behind the boat. I missed both shots but came really close. The duck would quack whenever it was hit. As the sun was setting we started fishing for our dinner, Snapper. I didn't catch a thing. Sarah caught a small one but it wasn't big enough to keep. In fact no one caught any big enough so plan B was lamb, sausage and steak, with an assortment of sides. After dinner we hung around the bar talking to other people and we met some cool girls who work at a winery outside Auckland.

We went night kayaking but the moon was too bright to see anything light up. I guess you can't have it all! The moon was gorgeous though, and the stars were really bright. I saw the Southern Cross and Orien's Belt. Some people went swimming but it was a little cold for that.

The next morning I watched the sun rise, ate breakfast and we anchored near a private island. We took a short hike to the top of a hill on the island where we could see lots of the islands in the Bay of Islands. There are approximately 144 islands in the bay. The one next to us is privately owned by an American...I wonder if i know him. We did some snorkeling, kayaking and ate lunch. Then we headed back to Paihia keeping an eye out for dolphins, but again, no such luck. We did get to have the freshest Uni (sea urchin) Ill ever have in my life. One of the crew broke some open with a nice and got the eggs out for us to eat. It tasted pretty good, not much of a flavor.

Although we didn't see glowing algae, didn't catch fish, nor see dolphins it was still a really cool trip, and we got lots of advice on where to go, etc.

When we were back on shore we got our van and drove north. We stopped in Mangonui, a small bayside town, for the night. It is an adorable village and we stayed at Mangonui Hotel, where I'm pretty sure we were the only guests. It was a really cute hotel with a home-y feeling, which turned slightly creepy at night. We ate a the Mangonui Fish Shop and had their world famous fish and chips. SO GOOD.

Yesterday morning we left Mangonui and drove north again, stopping in Whatuwhiwhi on the Kerikeri Peninsula. We are at a camping park and its really nice. So we parked our van in a spot and did laundry - washed sheets, blankets, etc- so we could make our bed. We also cleaned the car to make it not smell like diesel so much. The camp cat kept getting in the car and making it hard to clean. We went across the road to the beach but the wind really picked up and the sand was like tiny needles being thrown against my skin. So we played on the camp playground instead and I read. Then we drove to Cooper's Beach to get stuff to make for dinner - zuchini, yellow peppers and fresh bluenose fish. We grilled out using the camp's gas grill (then I showed an older Englishman how to use it....haha) and had a delicious dinner. As the sun set we played cards and talked with a Vancouver man about the 60 countries he's traveled to (Syria and Jordan were his favorites).

We slept in the car last night, it wasn't too bad. Just woke up. Today we are going to go to a different beach in the area, Matai Bay, famous for its two cresent shaped beaches.

The ozone layer here really IS thin. Yesterday I put on SPF 50, we were outside for about 2 hours and I still got a little burned. I don't think we'll be spending many full days at the beach, at least not without wearing a full body suit or something.

We will probably stay at this camp for tonight and tomorrow night. The camp is really nice and its all older people with really nice camper vans so it feels really safe. Tomorrow we may take a tour up to the very top of NZ to see Cape Reinga (to see the northernmost light house and where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean) and Ninety Mile Beach, as well as to go sand dune surfing!