The look of Auckland City as we arrived Sunday evening

"Backpackers" Beach

Haruru Falls without any idiots

Toby at the Haruru Falls

Me at the Haruru Falls

Haruru Falls

Waitangi Golf Course

Me at the Waitangi Golf Course in the Bay of Islands

View from near the Waipu Caves

Toby and Dave inside Waipu Cave

Me outside Waipu Cave

Waipu Cave in the background

Bay of Islands

Another top weekend has just passed. It started out on Friday arvo when Dave had convinced Toby and myself to travel 200km to Whangarei (www.whangarei.co.nz) to watch a practice rugby match between the Auckland Blues and the NSW Warratahs which supposedly started at 7.30pm. Toby and I left Manukau at 4.00pm and picked Dave up in the city on the way, as we neared Waipu, I rang Scotty and he alerted me to the fact the game was nearly over as it started at 6.00pm, instead of Dave's guess of 7.30pm. Shit happens and instead of traveling to Whangarei straight away we decided to drop in on scotty and have a beer or two before heading into Whangarei for the night of drinking. After a few beers and good laughs with scotty we headed into Whangarei to find a backpackers and pubs to keep the night moving. Before we knew it we had visited numerous pubs and sampled some strange beers, one in particular "sticky wicket" coming to mind. Another strange event for the night was when we popped into the pub/nightclub "heaven", there seemed to be a typical buccs party strip show, "dream girls" was a two girl strip show in the bar area, taking there clothes off (yes all of them) dancing around, creaming themselves up (take your mind out of the gutter), then selecting a guy from the crowd, and rubbing there creamy bodies all over them. Whilst standing there, still a little bewildered at the whole situation, I tried to look through the crowd of men to see what was happening and could actually see what she'd had for breakfast and more. So after a few more pubs Dave and I finished up at around 5.30am, whilst Toby traveled home with a local mum of the area and didnt return til 8.30 or so. Good Effort Toby! After some breakfast, we traveled around Whangarei looking at sites and ended up at the Waipu Caves which we explored with a small key ring light and mobile phone lights. It was a really great cave and was pretty cool inside. Once we stumbled out of the cave Toby and I dropped Dave off at the bus to return to Auckland whilst we traveled onto Paihia (www.paihia.co.nz) at the Bay of Islands (www.bayofislands.co.nz). By the time we got to Paihia which was only another hour up the road we were both that tired from the night/morning before (especially Toby), that we pulled up at the local beach, laid on the grassed and passed out for about an hour and a half. A really good move on our behalf. Once we had woken up we found a place to stay at the adventurer backpackers, which was really good, very small rooms but nice and clean, pool, spa, bbq, outdoor seating area and close to all the action. After a few beers around the pool we showered, dressed and hit the town, for food and drink. We had a few beers at the "Mako Bar" where we had fish and chips for dinner, then to the "Salty" to watch the end of the cricket, then next door to the "Pipi Lodge Backpackers Bar" til 12 when it closed then finished the night at the "Salty" bar again. We had a really great time at both places meeting plenty of great people from all over the world, but in particular a nice young german girl and young dutch girl, that Toby and i took a fancy too and were gentlemen and walked them back to there camping grounds a couple of kms away only to find out they were staying in a car and there was going to be no action for us. DOH! So a long walk home and we decided to hit the sack. Sunday Morning arrived with some of our other dormies waking up to go treking or some shit, making some noise anyway. Only after i had a shower and chatted to one of the other girls in the room, i found out Toby and i were snoring our heads off and were keeping the others awake-apparently i was the worst offender (drunk snore - the best kind). After some breakfast we hit the road and visited the Haruru Falls, very nice place to visit, wanted to jump in the water but Toby was a little on the scared side and since we didnt go for a swim there we headed to the beach. I jumped on a jet ski for 15 minutes and was having a great time, jumping and carving up some small swells in the bay. Rested after that at another "backpackers" beach, and waited for our fishing trip with captain bucko to start at 2pm. We headed out in the boat with 4 others, two canadian young guys, an iraqi and a kiwi (old lady). So four and half hours later we arrived at the jetty with a boat load of Snapper, Trevally and Carwire(this is a fish). Got a couple of bags of fillets from the fish and off we headed back to Auckland. A long and tiring trip, where Toby (first time driver in NZ) drove back the whole way. So finally after a massive weekend did it only come to an end at 12 oclock on Sunday night. What a great weekend at the Bay of Islands. I would recommend it, to all that visit NZ. Great place. Great People.

Please refer photos for a visual.

Geyser at Rotorua with heated pool.

Blue Lake Reserve. Toby finding the slide amusing.

Justine and Anna at the Wairoa River.

Me and Mark jumping off a ledge. The rafting starts from here and you can see the water mark on the rocks, indicating the level when the dam is released.

The crew from Orewa. Andrew, Justine and Anna.

Toby the funny Dutchman !

Mark and myself in a parking meter dual.

Me providing my arse to get pinched. What was I thinking ? Not too sure at that stage of the night.

Joe, Mark and Toby towards the end of the night.

Most of the Crew from the White Water Rafting Trip 

White Water Rafting Trip

Last weekend Mark, Toby, Dean and myself plus 14 other work collegues and there friends ventured down south to head down the mighty Wairoa River. So after the intial intros and getting dressed in wetsuit, booties, lifejacket and helmet we were ready to get into some action, now being a first timer I wasnt really sure what to expect but another half hour of rafting lessons and safety tips was not it. Anyway after practicing numerous silly moves in the raft we headed off down the river. The Wairoa River is a hydro-contolled river and is released 26 times a year and contains a couple of grade 5 rapids. http://www.riverrats.co.nz/wairoa.htm So after 2 hours of rafting and having a good time, falling off water falls and dodging rocks to protect my ass, we reached the end for some lunch and laughs at the photos from the pro photographer (soon to be released on here).

After the rafting we headed off to Rotorua and our hostel for the night. http://www.cactusjackbackpackers.co.nz/ now once again as a virgin hostel goer I wasnt really sure but had a fair understanding of what I was going to meet. How wrong I was, what was encountered was a pubic hair barber shop or at least what was left from the hair cuts. This ranged from on the walls, in the bath, on the floor and in the heated pool plus anywhere else I couldnt see and apart from that I ended up with numerous bites on me from something eating me in bed, and can assure you it wasn't a female. Now the hostel itself was very well decorated and could be a good place to stay if cleaning was pushed up there priority list. Saturday night was a night on the town in "Rotovegas" - tourist central and ended up at the "Pig and Whistle" for dinner and live band, then the "Fuze" for another very wuick drink. After about 10 minutesthere (due to lack of bodies) headed for the "Lava Bar". Now this place was basically a hostel with a bar in the house next door and is filled with plenty of backpackers from all over the world. Once again wasnt the greatest atmosphere but was bearable for a while. Finally we headed for the "Grumpy Mole" for a few more drinks before we finally called it quits. So after the pub crawling around "Rotovegas" a few street challenges - single and dual parking meter jumping, flower bed angels and others I cant really remeber, we made it home safely. The morning was short lived with one of our dorm dwellers, waking us up at 7.18 as revenge to us waking him up at 3am. Breakie and a swim in the Blue lake reserve was really refreshing before a challenging drive home.

So in all the weekend was a great time and plenty of laughs were had, mainly in reference to toby our dutch visitor.

Thanks Toby!

Please refer photos for graphics.

Overlooking Phia Bay. Lion Rock located centrally in the Bay was once used as a guarding post for locals protecting the shores of New Zealands West Coast.  

Looking at Phia Bay from Lion Rock. 

Wonga Wonga Bay on the West Coast of New Zealand, near Huia. 

The view from the Gondolas at Rotorua is one worth seeing. 

Uretiti Beach near Waipu. Great fishing spot just around the corner from scotty and pauline's house. About an hour and a half drive north of Auckland and popular spot to get away.  

The Sky Tower is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere standing at 328m and offers views for more than 80km in all directions.  

The Sky Tower from the Viaduct. 

The Sky Tower, photo from just below the landing platform.

Rangitoto Island (Extinct Volcano) from Sky Tower Observation Deck 

Auckland City from Mt Eden (Extinct Volcano) 

Just the beginning

Had to start somewhere with this blogging so a bit of background on why I have started this online journal......................
I moved to Auckland, New Zealand in July 2004 for a "working holiday". I had an internal transfer with an Australian Company I worked for and this provided me with a means of free transport and accommodation until I got settled. Another small advantage was that my job has provided me with a steady cash flow which has allowed me to travel around on the weekends and explore some of New Zealands tourist and non-tourist sites.