Arrived here on Monday in the sunshine and soon made my way to the hostel – The Mousetrap.   It’s very friendly & chilled out place but has a "No Noise" policy after 11pm so kinda felt that a rave wasn’t on the agenda here.  The road is probably the main bar area which gathers mainly folk from the Kiwi Experience (Club 18-30’s springs to mind) and fellow back packers.  I suppose it’s the best of both worlds, great for a night out but having the gurantee of getting a good sleep over at the Mousetrap.  I have been out and all I can say is that I am so grateful to Sara for telling me to avoid the Kiwi Exp.  I would rather pepper spray myself than spend an hour with them!  However…when I was 18 I might have quite liked it!

 

I spent the first two days just sunbathing as it was too hot to do owt else, however, the weather did change by Wednesday and did start to investigate the area a bit more.  The area is in the Bay of Islands so it is very picturesque.  I booked to go Horse Trekking on Wed afternoon, this was in the pine forest for about 2 and half hours.  There was just the instructor, me and a lady from a nearby hotel who had more experince than me.  I booked the beginners ride, I cannot remember the last time I was on a horse!  Anyway, it soon turned out I was on the naughty horse, damn she was stubborn!  The whole experience was great and we soon found ourselves deep in the forest up and down little tracks.  The views were great and we passed a field with loads of wild turkey and their little babies!  Would say they were cute but damn ugly.  I soon got the hang of how to ride the horse but could have done with being shown this at the beginning.  About 15 mins before we returned my horse wanted to eat every bloody plant in sight and even when I was pulling the reins or kicking it (which I was told to do by the way…) it wasn’t having any of it!  It then kinda jumped up and did a loud "Naaahhh" and then started to bloody canter, my instructor seemed totally oblivious to this, this happened twice and all I could do was hold on for dear life and shout "Whoa"  I was quite glad to get back to the "ranch" but God was I stiff, walking around like a fool for the first hour of getting off.  I’d certainly do it agin though, but on the beach next time.  The instructor later said that she never wishes that horse on anyone – cheeeeers

 

 

Thursday was a bit of a wash out, I went for a walk in to the woods but it got too rainy in the end.  Friday was a much better day.  I met a lad in our room called Matthew from England who was doing the whole "world tour"  and I found this very interesting, esp Fiji.  He had a car so we decided to take a road trip on Friday up to 90 mile beach and then follow the coast down to Paihia again.  It was great being able to be free in the car unlike the bus but there is no way I could afford to hire.  Anyway, 90 mile beach was pretty cool and looking forward to taking tours up there in the next few weeks.  It’s not a beach you’d sunbathe on but is a beach where you’d have a laugh in a 4×4. 

We then drove past a wine tasting restaurant in Kari Kari, wow, this was by far the highlight of my trip so far.  We both decided on having lunch there so quickly did a U turn and were fortunate enough to make it in time for their lunch time.  The photos will be added tomorrow but the place looked like an Italian villa & being on a hill was just amazing.  We sat outside and although windy the sun was strong and the views, I just cannot describe what they were like.  Again, lots of photos where taken but it’s nothing compared to being up there.  I ordered the cheeseboad (of course) now, it did say it was ideal for 2 but I didn’t expect it to be as big as it was!  I was in heaven, cheese, red wine and a perfect location, I even took a photo of the cheese (thought of you Dada as I know you like taking photos of meals!!)  Not bad for 7 quid!

After this we went to Matia beach which again was just gorgeous.  No one was around, the sand was white and the sea was a lovely blue.  The day, all in all was just great.

 

Today I am just about to start a BBQ, although I have eaten lunch already so not exactly hungry but there are a group of people so good to catch up etc  may just drink instead, for now.  Earlier I went by Ferry to Russell with Katia the German lass in my dorm, she is so funny and doesn’t realise how funny she is so, that makes me laugh even more.  Bless her, she has a bad throat infection so been ill all week and now on Anti Biotics so cannot even drink, she reminds me every day that she wish she could join in more but hey ho.  Anyway, Russell is nice and quaint but was only there for 2 hours, been there, done it 🙂 

Tomorrow I plan on going to a small farm with donkeys, rabbits, Doris the Fat Pig (be me soon if I carry on the way I am!) and lots of lambs, may sound naff but I’m excited! 

I then go to Keri Keri on Monday and stay with Helen’s aunt for 3 nights, then Kaitaia for the week where I’ll be able to get onto 90 M beach again.

 

Hopefully get all photos on the blog tomorrow.