Walkabout: Travel Life and Photographs

Coming Full Circle

Back in the greater Auckland area again. Had a nice trip up North to the Bay of Islands where the weather was a bit nice.

I came to know quite a few other travelers passing through the area, but as all things come to an end we went our separate ways. I might meet up again with a kid named Alex from the UK later in Queenstown though.

Also did a few hikes up there which included the Paihia(Pie-here) lookout that takes you to an aerial view of the bay, the Haruru Falls trail which went through a great mangrove forest where the trail turned into an escalated boardwalk through the mangrove trees that are constantly in 1-2 feet of water, and checked out the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. The Treaty Grounds is where modern New Zealand was essentially born. There was s native Maori meeting house that decorated stunningly, a native Maori war canoe (the biggest one ever built supposedly), and great views of the area. I didn’t exactly plan on going to the Treaty grounds…just came upon it on the way back from the Haruru Falls trail trying to take a shortcut and ended up in the middle of it all, and some how bypassed the $12 dollar admission fee. =/

Now I’m back in Orewa looking for car at the moment. Decided I do want the freedom and flexibility that would come with it rather than sticking to a bus system. Stayed a backpackers called Pillows last night, but checked out this morning cuz it was kinda shady….and a man prolly in his 40’s looked to be living in the dorm I was in….and the other guy in there I never really met…he showed up sometime in the middle of the night mysteriously…I dunno, maybe it was the gloomy weather and the rain that put a damper on the place, but either way I didn’t feel comfortable staying around….and think we may have been treated pretty well at the backpackers in Paihia. So I’m back at Kerry’s house for the moment until I get a car and can continue on with the travels. They’re prolly regretting ever treating me so well since I showed up at their house again! =)

 

The magnificent view from the top of the Paihia Lookout trail on to the town and bay below.