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| Kauri tree |
After a light breakfast on the 7th floor of
Nomad's Auckland, our tour guide packed our luggage in a trailer behind our
GAdventures tour bus. Our first stop was to see an 800 year old
kauri tree at
Parry Kauri Park. These trees are honored by the Maori. The wood was too soft for their type of boats. However, when the Europeans arrived, they decimated the kauri population because the wood was soft and flexible enough to be molded for their boats.
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| 3.49 for avocados and they're not even large?!? |
We boarded the tourbus and made our way the Warkworth for a quick stop for snacks and coffee. At the tiny convenience/grocery store, the local Hass avocados sold for $3.49 each while the local strawberries were $5.99/pint! Since both were grown in NZ, I expected the rates to be more reasonable. The avocados weren't even the large Hass. However, I did end up buying and enjoying the perfect, deep-red strawberries.
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| Goat Island Marine Reserve |
Our next stop was
Goat Island Marine Reserve, a beautiful island not far from Auckland. The water is clear blue/green. The island is a "pest-free" sanctuary from the pests, like rats, that arrived starting with Maori and then the Europeans. Even the water around the island is protected. In one of the rock pools, we saw feathery seaweed with a little black crab scurrying among it.
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| Rock pool at Goat Island Marine Reserve |
By now, we were hungry for lunch; and, we stopped in
Whangarei at the
Cafe Press for sandwiches ($14.50 each). So delicious! Even the greens salad was delectable. By the time I was ready to order, there was a 30 minute wait for sandwiches. Therefore, I ordered an amazing quiche instead, which was full of hard-boiled eggs, bacon and cheese.
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Quiche at Cafe Press
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Next, we stopped at a waterfall. It was small but tranquil. The water wasn't terribly cold (think Barton Springs, for Austinites). From the top, overlooking the falls, we had seen people sitting in the water at the bottom. Just walking down through the beautiful greenery was nice and quiet. If New Zealand is anything, it is green. From the fields to the mountains, everything that we've seen has been a verdant, succulent green.
We finally arrived in
Paihia, the jumping off place to visit the Bay Islands. My guidebook mentioned only one site, an
Anglican church. It is small but quaint, with beautiful stained glass windows in the nave. Don't know if the "no heels" sign on the door or the fact that the door was just open for people to walk through was more surprising. There is a small cemetery in the back.
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| St. Paul's Anglican Church, Paihia |
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