Successfully got up, checked out and went over to the bus on time today (albeit groggily) and off we went at 7:30. Our guide (Mike) is really chatty and gives lots of information and stories to the group. It's just a small bus, with maybe 20 people (at full capacity). We stopped for breakfast at some little town and had delicious BLT sandwiches on ciabatta bread that ranked as one of the tastiest I've ever eaten. Drove along some more and then stopped at the next town Whangarei for a bit and got to check out the info center and the little skateboard bowl in the park behind the building. The angle to drop-in was so steep that it was actually inverted. Back on the bus and onward to another little town the see the famous toilets, which amounted to cave-like bathrooms with nice tile and bottles built into the walls. Pretty weak tourist stop... The roads we're taking up to the Bay of Islands are so winding that it's hard to get comfortable. Keep getting tossed back and forth, and the "holy shit" handles are required. Regardless, we made it to the town we would spend the night in safely and on time. Firstly though, our driver continued on to the next town (a few minutes past ours) called Waitangi (across a one lane bridge that cars on either side had to take turns crossing). Waitangi is where the treaty between the British and the Maori people was signed to form the country and each year their version of Canada Day is called Waitangi Day. We could pay $25 each to see the little museum and heritage park, but decided that was a waste of time and money. Just past the Waitangi site, the bus stopped at the top of a hill (by a golf course!) and the guide pointed to the little town across the bay called Russell, which was the first settlement in the country and originally the capital was about 10 KM from the town. Then we were driven to our hostel in the first town, called Paihia.
We checked in and then walked the 2 or 3 KM back up past the Waitangi site to the entrance to a hiking path to Haruru Falls. The sign informed us the journey to the waterfall was 5 KM....one way...ouch. But we had nothing to do, so off we went. It's weird how sometimes 5 KM goes quickly, and other times it feels like the longest walk in the world. Today was the latter example. A couple hours later we got to the falls, which were okay, but after the hike, anything less than Niagra Falls was a let down. After resting for a little bit, we didn't want to retrace our steps back down the trail, so we walked across a bridge and back to the town on the shoulder of a road. Felt shorter going back, but still a long walk. Had a nap back at the hostel after the 14-16 KM we had just walked and then went to the Base hostel next to ours for a bbq supper. It was $12 and we got a decent meal for that, consisting of a steak, sausage, salad, roasted potato and coleslaw (with raisins in it...eww). We stayed here until late chatting and drinking with a couple Brits and a girl from Toronto. Then off to bed to catch some Z's before having to hop back on the bus tomorrow morning at 8 AM.
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