Last Night in New Zealand

"Cape Reinga"

Here I am back in Auckland for my last night in New Zealand. Tomorrow I jump on yet another airplane and set off to Sydney to explore Austrailia. After taking a short flight from Christchurch a few days ago I decided that instead of staying in the city bumming around for my last few days here I would rent a car and go and explore the Northlands seeing as it was one of the places that I had not seen yet.

So after sitting around and trying to get up enough courage to drive out of a city that has more than a million people on the left hand side of the road I decided it was time to go and I went and picked up my car and was on my way. Its funny the things that seem scary sometimes, for example I was much more at ease getting thrown out of an airplane than I was trying to weave my way through a big and unfamiliar city on the wrong side of the road.

The first day of my trip consisted of about a 4 hour dive up the east coast to a little town called Paihia. The first half an hour or so was a little stressful but once I was outside the city I started to relax and really enjoy the drive. After I was around a hour outside the city I drove passed two hitchhikers and considering I did that for three months I thought it was my duty to pick them up. It was weird cause the whole time I was hitching I only got picked up by locals and it turned out the people I picked up were Kiwis. They were also headed north so I decided I would bring them as far as I was going which was a pretty decent hitch. They turned out to be super cool and it was actually super nice having other people to visit with so when I got to Paihia I didnt have the heart to make them go and stand on the road in the pouring rain so I ended up driving over a hour more, dropping them off, turning around, and heading back to my bed for the night, needless to say they were quite grateful hitch hikers.

The next day I decided to drive up to Cape Reinga, which is the northern most point in New Zealand and its also the The Pacific and the Tasmen Ocean meet. The Maori people believe the the cape is where the spirits of people who pass away leave New Zealand.

When I left Paihia in the morning the sun was shining and it was quite an amazing day but as I drove it got worse and worse until I finally got the Cape Reinga and seen nothing but fog and rain. I was quite disappointed but I guess it was cool looking in a different kind of way. The drive back I took my time and stopped at Ninety mile beach which may be one of the coolest things I have even seen if you have a truck. The beach itself doubles as a highway during low tide and the speed limit is even 100Kmh, now I understand why I had to sign a contract saying I wasn't aloud to drive on beaches with my car.

I spent the next two nights in Paihia again and just did little day trip but unfortunately the weather was lousy so I didn't get to see everything in perfect conditions, when the Northlands are suppose to be amazing, but I guess Ill have to leave that for another trip if I ever end up back here again.

Today I made my way back to Auckland, dropped off my car, and am going to just relax and get a good night sleep. Tomorrow is only about a three hour flight but with all the buses to airports, checking in, customs, and such it will be another full day of transportation before I am relaxing in Sydney tomorrow night. Good Times I sure love airports!

"My Nissan For Four Days"

"Haruru Falls in Paihia"

"Coolest Highway Ever At Ninety Mile Beach"

"Ninety Mile Beach And My Jandals"

"Biggest Kauri Tree In New Zealand"

The Trunk Base Is Over 17m Around!!