New Zealand I - Sweetas

Me sand boarding on the dunes at Ninety Mile Beach - New Zealand I arrived in New Zealand last Thursday. I flew out of LA by Qantas (quality) on 26th September I arrived in Auckland on 28th September. I wasn't in the air for 36 hours though. When you cross the international dateline from East to West you lose a day, so 27th September 2006 did not exist for me (time travel included in the ticket price). Anyway I spent a couple of days in Auckland and really liked it. I like the windy, curvy streets, its nice to see them again after all the block formations in North America. Auckland is a nice place to walk around and has a busy atmosphere to it. On the first day I went on a free day trip with Kiwi Experience (one of the backpacker bus companies) and went out to Devonport. It was a good fun trip. In the afternoon I wandered around Auckland (my normal tactic for negotiating a city) and watched the sunset. On the second day I went on another free day trip with Stray (another backpacker bus company). The good thing about both triups is that they are completely different. I have decided to tackle the rest of the country with Kiwi Experience. They have got a special deal on at the moment and everyone I have spoken has given them a good review. On Saturday I went up with Kiwi to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. I was with a new mate of mine Chris who I met on the Stray bus the day before. As soon as we arrived in Paihia we went on a cruise to dolphin watch. We came across a pod and had them swimming up to the boat. The crew get you to lean over the bow and the dolphins come swimming up underneath. Part of the cruise is the opportunity to get in the water with the dolphins. The water is the Pacific Ocean and these are wild dolphins who don't hang around to do tricks for you. We were given wet suits and snorkle gear and then, when given the say so, jumped in. Now it is factually correct to say I was swimming in the water with dolphins, however, I cannot honestly say that I saw them whilst in the water. It was a good trip and we met some cool people on the boat. The next day we were meant to be going on a coach trip to the very northern tip of New Zealand and back again. The bus picked up at 7am and we were standing outside the hostel at 7am. What we didn't know was that the clocks had gone forward and we were an hour late (schoolboy error). We were able to move the booking to the next day and went up to the Treaty of Waitanga Museum (Maori's and British signed Treaty together creating modern New Zealand). The next day we went on the coach trip. The driver for the trip is a crazy guy christened Auto (after the bus driver from the Simpsons). He had his 12 year old son with him. The trip takes you up to Ninety Mile Beach stopping at a Kauri forest on the way up. Ninety Mile Beach isn't actually ninety miles it is more like ninety kilometres. Anyway it is a public road and the coaches can drive on it. These coaches are specially modified to deal with the conditions. This coach had a 400 bhp engine mounted at the front instead of the back and it was raised higher than a normal coach. It is not unusual for these coaches to be lost on the beach. Auto told us a story of how only a week ago he was driving down the beach when he went through a body of water and dropped into a hole, with a wave higher than the coach approaching, luckily he managed to get out before the wave hit. It is quite amazing to see the coaches plowing along through the surf (he gets his son to drive at some points). Once you get to the top of the beach you drive along a river through the sand dunes. We drove down the river and Auto laughed at which dunes the other coaches had stopped at. We pulled up the biggest one - 85m. Before we went sand boarding he had given us a safety talk, basically scaring everyone from doing it. We climbed the sand dune (hard work) and got to the top being sand blasted by the wind. At the top no one would step forward to go first after the safety talk (a group of girls had stopped halfway up). Chris went first and I went second. It was great fun though extremely tiring climbing the dune. The video above shows my third and final run. Today I went across the bay from Paihia to Russell. Russell was the original British settlement in New Zealand. Darwin described it as the 'hell hole of the Pacific' when sailors used to frequent it. Nowadays it is a quaint little place well worth a visit. There is a nice beach and the oldest Church in New Zealand. In Auckland I have stayed at the Base Backpackers. It is a really good hostel. The rooms are big and clean. The cafe is reasonably priced and open for long hours. The staff are very firendly and helpful. On the roof is a sauna and a hot tub. In my booking I got a special deal where the saune and hot tub were included. On my first night I went in the hot tub with an open air view of the Sky Tower. On the second night I went in the sauna. I don't think I have been in a sauna before because I haven't experienced heat like it. I am sure it must have done me some good. In Paihia I stayed at the Pip Patch, which is a converted motel. It is OK but in need of some tender loving care, everything was clean though. Sweeta is something that anyone involved with the backpacker trade says. I think it is just a general term used by the cool crowd in New Zealand. The guide from the Stray bus managed to say Sweetas at least 3 times as he jumped from the bus to the pavement. Bro is also extremely popular.