#paihia

One of the things that NZ does well is vacation time. Our offices are closed for 3 weeks over the holidays, and I was not planning to waste any of it - get ready for a bunch of blogs! First up was the Northeast Coast with Mary. Not to be confused with where I grew up, instead of snow and pine trees the December landscape here was filled with sand and fern trees.

On Friday afternoon, Mary flew to Auckland to pick me up and we headed to Whangarei. What was only meant to be a 2 hour drive up the motorway ended up being a 4 hour excursion through dirt roads. A huge portion the the 1 was closed down and we were given very poor directions to turn around and follow the person in front of us.

Eventually, we made it Whangarei where we got some high quality Thai food with fast service. We were greeted at our Airbnb by our welcoming host who gave us recommendations for how to spend our next day, which we followed to a T.

In the morning we headed to the hub, or the town center, for some coffee. We also picked up a portable speaker so as not to have to listen to static radio for the whole trip. This became affectionally known Be-Boop. Then, we ventured to the Whangarei Falls where it began to feel like we were on vacation. To continue the relaxation, we drove to Whale Bay which is a beautiful calm beach with bright blue water. There, we relaxed and swam. Mary read as I caught up on my blogging.

Next, we drove up to Paihia which is a costal town in the Bay of Islands. We were staying in a cute little cottage just off of the main road. Mary and I poured ourselves a glass of wine and went out on the deck to meditate when Mary noticed a rustling in the bushes. We looked over to find a large hedgehog. Mary had been told that we were meant to kill hedgehogs as they feed on rare insects and are considered to be pests.

Neither of us could bring ourselves to kill it, so instead, we swept it into a large pot and messaged the host about our capture. She was not impressed. She grabbed the pot and let the hedgehog out at the bottom of the hill.

For dinner, we treated ourselves to a nice meal at a little restaurant on the water called Terra. Mary immediately recognized the waiter. It turns out that he served her at a restaurant in Wellington! What a small country. We enjoyed some fresh oysters that were caught in the bay across the road, caprese salad, potato beignets, and the fish of the day. It was a delight!

After dinner we walked along the beach and watched the sunset. The next morning, we went into town, grabbed some coffee, and hopped on the ferry to Russell. This town holds a lot of first for NZ. It was the first seaport, European settlement, and capital. The history is evident from the old architecture which reminded me a bit of home.

When we landed, we walked to Oneroa Bay Beach and scoped out a nice shaded spot where we meditated and relaxed for a few hours. Even though we kept reapplying sunscreen, the NZ sun won out. We both had a few random burn patches on our bodies.

Back in town we got a glass of wine and an appetizer at a restaurant overlooking the water. We were serenaded by live guitar music as we sat and talked about life. We had a little time before the next ferry departed, so we perused some local shops. We ended the night in Paihia with a quick, uneventful Indian dinner.

Paihia Cemetery

Paihia, New Zealand