Bay of Islands

The Bay of Islands was hands down, the most beautiful place I've ever been. We all loaded the bus at 6:30AM on Thursday and drove the 4 hours to our hostel (pretty snazzy hostel I must say). It's amazing how 10 minutes out of the city of Auckland you're suddenly seeing mountains, sheep, cows, and endless green. Our hostel was right by the ocean, with bars and restaurants minutes away. The first day there was a little rainy, but no one minded too much. We got to ride the Mack Attack which was a speed boat with about 30 seats to tour us around the area. It was a BLAST. It was down pouring in the beginning but everyone was just laughing and having the time of our lives. They gave us these big glasses they called goggles which were fun to wear and helped with the wind in our eyes. We were supposed to see the famous hole-in-the-rock but the waters were too rough, which was a bummer. But I still got some pretty great pictures! After the Mack Attack we all went swimming in the ocean... pretty much paradise. We all couldn't believe we were in the ocean in the middle of February... it's still pretty unreal. The hole in the ozone is pretty serious though... you can burn in 10 minute if you don't wear sunscreen.. and somehow we all managed to get burnt even when it was raining. Not too bad though, think it's turning into a tan now ;) Later that night we all went out to a fun outdoor bar called Makos and then over to Salty's, got to talk to some local Kiwis! They were giving out raffles for 2 for 1 skydiving and we won two of them!!! But they have to be used in the Bay of Islands within the week so we're going to see if we can finagle a deal. Pretty cool though!

The next day we did a tour to Cape Reinga (the tip of New Zealand) through the 90 mile beach. This was the most amazing day of my life. The 90 mile beach was incredible... our bus drove along the sand and kept going and going.... there were no people or anything in sight the entire way, just endless beach and ocean. Then we got to the sand dunes and we went to the highest one possible according to our tour guide. The climb up the sand dune was pretty intense... and once we reached the top the wind was blowing so hard we couldn't see anything at all and I thought I was going to die from lack of air haha but we survived and got to sandboard on boogie boards down the dune!!! SO MUCH FUN. After we all had sand everywhere... in ours mouths, ears, noses... I think I'm still getting sand out of my scalp, but it was definitely worth it and a really fun experience. After the sand dunes we kept driving and had to stop the bus because cows were in the road!! Funniest thing ever, we were literally just sitting there waiting for them to pass. Then we got to Cape Reinga... and walked to the lighthouse at the very tip of the north island! The view was incredible... completley indescribable. My pictures can't even capture what it was like. We then ate lunch on the water and started to journey back to our hostel. Stopped at a fish 'n' chips on the way back... best fish I have ever had. I definitely want to take advantage of how fresh the fish is here. That night our entire group went out and had so much fun and went out on the beach at night star gazing.

The last day in the bay of Islands we did a tour of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds... it was a quick stop but we got to watch some Maori people do the kapa haka (their tribal dance! which is also the war dance the All-Blacks rugby team does!) I'm taking a class about the kapa so I'm excited to learn more about it.. and learn how to do it! ah! We headed back to Huia... and of course went out again at the viaduct. Another incredible night in the city. Before we all go out we go into the domain (a big field right by Huia) and have some drinks and just hang out and look at the stars. Thisssss is the life!