New Zealand--2: Northland

Going 4 hours north to the Bay of Islands, I had a look at a map of Auckland to suss out a potential spot to catch a hitchhike north. Drew myself a little sign with the town I was going to and another town along the way. Within 10 mins a lady picked me up and said she could bring me to a place where I'd have better luck catching a ride to where I was trying to go. I was dropped off I don't know where, but within 5 mins another lady picked me up. On here way north to her holiday home to finish her 5 day fast. She said that she was going to go sightseeing along the coast, between Paihia and Ngunguru, on her way back to Auckland, but since she now had me, she would do it on the way up. She used to live up this way so she was quite familiar with the area and knew of some great spots--coves, beaches, walks, etc. I couldn't have asked for a better hitchhike; and compared to the bus……

3 hitchhikes in 2 days, less than 30mins waiting, all women...
The Northland of NZ has some amazing scenery: from lush green countryside to idyllic coastal areas, I have never seen such a compact diversity of landscape. The scenery here was right up there with the paradise like feel of Thailand but amidst developed world small country towns.






We also stopped off at the worlds most famous toitlets in Kawa Kawa (at least according to those living in Kawa Kawa)


By the way, she told me that the best time to visit NZ would be outside the school holidays--Christmas to end of Jan. So if you plan a trip here (or Australia), the best time would be before Christmas or starting beginning of February.

When my generous driver dropped me off in Paihia in the Bay of Islands, she gave me her number. She said she might be going back to Auckland the same day as me and might be interested in a snorkel trip I was thinking of doing off Tutukaka at Poor Knight’s Island. How generous is that!..... Although I didn't end up taking her up on it.

Paihia was alright, another lovely place that has become an area of holiday homes and tourism. But there were some nice walks,


up into the mountains looking over the Bay of Islands,


and a coastal walk,


Went on a catamaran sail boat out into the harbor in search of dolphins.

Only just before returning did we come across some…many:30-40.

But because they were feeding—swarming, diving, trapping fish against the boat—and with babies, we couldn't jump in with them. Which would have been scary, my god: we were really far out in the ocean, the water black with depth, and there were heaps of these very large dolphins swarming about. Although I would have done it had we been able.

We also saw the smallest penguins in the world--that looked like ducks,
and heaps of Gannets swirling in the air, diving like kamikaze pilots, crashing into the water for fish. They did so repeatedly until they became so full they couldn't fly anymore and just floated on the water there. Sometimes as sitting ducks for other animals to eat them. It was really cool to watch the masses of them dive; I've never seen such a thing.

I met a couple Aussie chicks from Melbourne at the ‘Pickled Parrot’ hostel where I was staying. They were going back to Auckland same day as I and were gonna do a scenic trip along the coast on the way back. Sweet. So I crammed my stuff in their ½ size car and we ventured to an area of the coast I had not seen with my previous hitchhike. More beautiful countryside

and this time long stretches of beach.

but boy do overcast skies make for uninspiring photos.