Caboose

While I was in Canada I’d decided to book my Christmas accommodation in advance, so I didn’t end up with nowhere to stay. After a quick look through the guidebook I picked the Bay of Islands, which turned out to be a good decision.

The bus from Auckland to Paihia was uneventful, I’m starting to get a bit fed up of buses now. Once in Paihia it was just a short walk up the road to Peppertree Lodge, where I’d booked a bed in an en-suite 4-bed dorm.

Paihia is a nice little town on the Bay of Islands, with a small beach, a wharf for tourist boats and lots of accommodation. It’s also just along the road from Waitangi. Peppertree Lodge is one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at, the owners are very friendly and the facilities are well looked after. You can even borrow a bike or a kayak for free.

I spent a little while working out what I wanted to do and booking things then borrowed a bike and pedalled along to Waitangi. The Treaty Grounds are pleasant and they’ve obviously done a lot of work renovating the buildings and gardens but there’s little information unless you pay extra for a guided tour. The main sights are a very big and beautifully carved waka (canoe) and the Treaty House.

On the way back I picked up some supplies at the local supermarket: milk, butter and beer.

Christmas day started quietly, I was the only person in my room so got to lie in undisturbed. After a while I wandered down to the wharf and took the fast ferry across to Russell. The plan was to go for a walk but just as I arrived it started raining, so I quickly had a look around town then took the ferry straight back. The ferry really hurtles across the bay, with various loose metal bits clanging every time you bounce over a wave.

The owners of Peppertree Lodge put on a fantastic free Christmas lunch barbecue, huge piles of ham, turkey, sausages and vegetables. We sat outside (under the covered bit because of the rain), drank beer and ate. Later in the afternoon most of us moved inside and watched films.

For Boxing Day I’d booked a trip to go and see dolphins in the bay. Not long after we set off we found a large pod of adults and juveniles with at least one baby dolphin among them. Because the baby was there no-one was allowed into the water with them but we stayed for a while to watch the dolphins playing around the boat. As we left some of them seemed determined to keep up with us (going pretty fast), hurtling along through our wake and leaping into the air behind the boat. I spent most of my time watching them rather than taking pictures, unlike the rude and selfish big-camera people who kept trying to push other people out of the way and only saw the whole thing through a viewfinder.

A bit later we found a couple of adult dolphins without any young ones around, so we all dived in and spent a while swimming around trying to get closer. The dolphins seemed to be teasing us, and it’s much harder to see anything when you’re at sea level and there’s a bit of a swell (especially in my case when I’m not wearing my glasses). I decided to give up and climb back aboard.

In an odd connection to some previous travels it turns out that Marion du Fresne was killed nearby. Although the historical note (accompanying a copy of this picture) on board the Marion Dufresne II failed to mention that the French retaliated by killing hundreds of Maori (apparently from a different tribe from the attackers).

For the rest of the day I just relaxed, reading and watching films, as well as catching up on some laundry.

Now I’m back in Auckland, having a couple more relaxing days before I fly on to Tasmania tomorrow. Both in Paihia and here in Auckland I’ve ended up suffering from inconsiderate room-mates, the kind who come in late at night, turn on the lights and start talking noisily for hours. Even worse they then get up early in the morning and crash around while they pack, still talking noisily. I know it’s impossible to be completely silent when you’re packing up your bags and moving out, but I wish they’d at least save the conversation for outside the room.

After the Magic bus picked me up again we only had a short journey up to the coast at Mount Maunganui. This is a popular beach resort and, with the Christmas holiday coming up, it was absolutely heaving.

There’s a nice long beach, a hill at one end and not much else to be said about the place.

The following day was my last on the Magic bus, the usual stops for coffee and scenery and finally arriving in Auckland around 2pm. I’d booked into the Base ACB hostel, in an office block right in the centre of Auckland. Like the other big backpackers I’ve stayed in it wasn’t great: creaky bunks, impersonal and the feeling that they’re trying to extract money out of you every way they can (NZD4 for the washing machine and expensive internet).

The bus journey up from Napier to Rotorua wasn’t very interesting, I slept a lot of the way. You certainly know when you reach the active geothermal area, the whole town stinks. Just when you think you’ve got used to the smell the wind will change and a fresh sulphurous blast will hit you.

I was staying at Treks, a very new and very nice hostel. It’s the first “flashpacker” I’ve stayed at that actually deserves the name. The kitchen is especially good, huge and with plenty of room for lots of people to cook at once. It’s also right next door to Kuirai Park, which has plenty of geothermal activity going on — in the picture below each of the fences encloses a steaming pond or boiling mud pool.

After a stroll around the lake to Sulphur Bay I visited the Museum of Art and History, located in the former Bath House. The museum itself is a bit light on detail about the spa but the building itself is interesting and they have a couple of good audio-visual presentations, including an excellent film about the local Maori battalion during World War II. In an odd connection to earlier parts of my trip there’s a totem pole outside, a gift from the Canadian government at some point.

In the evening I went to the Tamaki Maori village for their cultural ‘experience’ and dinner. A bus picked everyone up from where they were staying, then dropped us at Tamaki’s office in town for a little audio-visual introduction to Maori culture. We then piled back onto the buses (or a different bus in our case, ours had broken down) for the drive out to the village, during this time our very entertaining driver/guide explained a bit more about the culture and chose someone to be our ‘chief’.

At the village our chiefs had the traditional ‘challenge’ — lots of face-pulling, waving of weapons and horrible noises — before we were welcomed in and could wander around looking at various traditional crafts and activities. After that there was some singing and dancing before we were escorted through to the dining room for the hangi meal, an enormous buffet of meat and vegetables.

The next day the bus wasn’t due to pick me up until after 3pm, so I spent a while wandering around town, visiting the Blue Baths (formerly a swimming pool, now a museum and venue) and reading in the public library.