Recapping Northland the lazy way: with photos.

As I mentioned in my last post, I headed up to the top of the North Island with a very nice girl by the name of Julia that I met at the hostel here in Auckland. 

It was a great three days and I am very proud to say I successfully managed to drive on the left-hand side of the road for the first time since 2004.  Once I turned right into the wrong lane, but other than that, I was golden.  Go me!

I could spend paragraphs describing the verdant hills, the sparkling bays, the misty horizon, the majestic trees and dunes and the gently swaying palm fronds that I enjoyed on my travels. But I’ll just show you what it looked like, yeah?

The route we took 



We spnt our first night in the very small town of Pukenui at a hostel that overlooked this beautiful bay. We were the only people in the place save for this German guy who was at the beginning of a five month biking trip up and down the country.  Crazy.

The three of us drove over to Ninely Mile Beach, which is, confusingly, a 64-mile stretch of uninterupted beach along the wesst coast of the top of the North Island. It's officially a highway, though you're not advised to drive on it.  Go figure.

There we watched the sun go down in a spectacular fashion.

The next day we went to Cape Reinga, which is the northernmost point of New Zealand.  The Maoris believe that the spirits of the dead reach the underworld from this point.

Here the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet and make this funny wave. It's pretty cool.  

We also headed out to the Te Paki sand dunes where you can rent a board and, after a strenuous climb, slide down on your stomach like a tobbogan.

Te Matua Ngahere is the oldest and biggest tree in NZ.  This kauri is an estimated 2,000 years old and is six metres wide and has a girth of 16 metres!

This was the view from my room at the hostel in Whangaroa.  The town was laughably small, but the hostel was pretty sweet.  We were the only people in it, and it had a hot tub!

This awesome dog greeted us at the Ngwha Springs hot pools.  It layed on its back invitingly for at least five minutes after I stopped rubbing its belly.  It then refused to move when I needed to back the car up.

The Ngawha Springs hot pools.  They don't look like much, and smelled aweful, but my skin has rarely felt so nice.  Unfortunately, three days and three showers later, I still smell a little like sulphur.

Toi Toi grass is something you see nearly everywhere in NZ and it's awesome.

So that was Northland.  Now I'm back in Auckland and am back at square one.  What to do, what to do?  I applied for a job here, but haven't heard anything yet, and should likely continue looking for a car.  I just need to get motivated!