Paihia (pronounced Pie-HEAR) is 4 hrs north of Auckland in the "Winterless North". I arrived on Wednesday by backpacker bus (Kiwi Experience) - a first for me, and to be honest I didn't know what to expect. I thought it was just a Greyhound bus-like network that included specific stops to cater for backpackers. Instead, it's pretty much a full travel service - you can flip through huge binders of excursions and book these through the driver, who will fax through the requests en route so that by the time the bus arrives at the destination, the tickets are all printed out at the travel agency ready to be collected/paid for. The same goes for any accommodation too, as affiliated youth hostels reserve a set number of beds for each backpacker bus service. It's all pretty impressive. I liked the carpet on the bus floor too (I'm sure this isn't standard back home?? Lovely for my feet! :)Our driver was a bubbly Kiwi called Lauren, who regaled us with tidbits as we drove along. I'll bore you with my 2 favourite stories. The first is about the Auckland Harbour Bridge - it was originally only a 4 lane bridge, but was later increased by another 4 lanes, thanks to the skills of some Japanese engineers - therefore these extra lanes are now known as the Nippon Clip-Ons. Also, the translation of the original Maori name for Russell (a town in the Bay of Islands) was Big Fat Blue Penguin (not sure if there are still any around - they used to be the main ingredient in a Maori broth). I have also picked up (but not yet used) the following Kiwi phrase from her: "Sweet As" (no worries/great).
The Pipi Patch hostel is about 50m from the beach, where there's a lovely panoramic view of Russell (aka the Blue Penguin town) on the opposite shore to Paihia, and a couple of the 144 islands that make up the Bay of Islands marine park. The islands form a barrier so the bay is sheltered and an ideal place for watersports, yachting, fishing and dolphin spotting! There's even a boat trip during which you can swim with the dolphins if conditions are right. At the moment, people aren't able to actually get into the water with them, but only observe as there are baby dolphins in the pods that approach the boats.
In the old days, there was a boat service visiting the inhabited islands delivering groceries, milk and newspapers. These days the roads have made this service virtually redundant, but the service is now a daily excursion called the "Cream Trip" (sounds much better than the Milk Round) run by Fullers, and groceries and newspapers are still delivered during the trip to a couple of remote houses. I booked myself onto yesterday's Cream Trip, and as the boat wasn't due to leave until 10am, I decided to have brekkie at one of the waterfront cafes. Whilst I was waiting at one of the outside tables for my blueberry "hotcakes" and bacon to arrive, the family on the table next to mine finished their brekkie and left. Within seconds, seagulls swooped in from all directions and there was just a mass of fighting feathers, bacon rind and leftover scrambled eggs going everywhere. As the couple on the next table and I watched in horror, the waitress came out with my brekkie and saw the carnage. "B*gger off, you mongrels!" she yelled, and then turned to us to say: "They're scavengers, the number of breakfasts they've had!" Even though I tried to be vigilant eating my brekkie (hunched over the plate), one particularly intrepid seagull tried to swoop in, ricocheted off the window that I was sitting next to, and zoomed away in defeat, barely missing my head. When did meals get so difficult??
Once on the boat, we visited points of interest on various islands, such as the site of the first Christian sermon ever preached in New Zealand and the beach where Captain Cook (who named the Bay of Islands) landed. One of the highlights for me though was the simple delivery of a newspaper to a particular house on the tip of an island. The home owner had rigged up an ingenious "letterbox", which consisted of a bucket suspended at the end of a pulley system which extended several metres into the sea. We all waited expectantly as the boat drew alongside the bucket and a crew member popped in the plastic wrapped newspaper. Sadly, there was to be no demonstration of the pulley system: "He must have gone fishing" said the captain. At lunchtime, we stopped at one of the larger islands and had a free trip in the Nautilus, a vessel with glass walls below sea level for marine life viewing. We trooped downstairs and sat down on narrow benches as the Nautilus went out into deeper water. Then a bucket of feed was trailed first on one side of the boat, and then on the other so that everyone could take photos. These trips have been going for 20 years so the fish are happy to come right up to the boat. And why wouldn't they - those fish must be the luckiest in the Bay - they get fed several times a day for doing nothing but showing up! Large shoals of silvery fish appeared, including some HUGE snappers that I wouldn't even be able to hold in my arms without falling over ("Look, there's Martha!" said a crew member as one of the snappers went by).
The weather up here has been warm and humid for the first couple of days, and tantalisingly overcast until late afternoon when the sun appears in force. The sun did peep out occasionally during the trip though, and then the water turned from dull green/grey to inky midnight blue and teal. Just gorgeous. Despite Paihia being the hub of all activities for the marine park, it still has a very laid back, uncrowded feel. Our driver Lauren had urged us to get to the beach early if the sun was out "otherwise it'll be packed!" But even when the sun has been out (sadly, only from late afternoon on the last couple of days), there has still been masses of space between each group of sun worshippers. Maybe this is what passes for crowded in NZ? It's nothing like the pictures of Brighton on the first sunny day of the year. It's just one of the things that makes it so great travelling here. Another practical note is the number of public loos - they're everywhere and FREE. No need to fish out small change, or hunt desperately for the nearest McDs like I normally have to do in Europe.
No comments:
Post a Comment