Day 3 :: Auckland Museum & Shananigans in Whitianga

Day 03 - Auckland Museum & Whitianga

So the night before, winds and choppy water in the harbour canceled my plans to kayak to Rangitoto Island. Yet again, I wake up to another overcast and rainy day in Auckland. Rains spoil much of the Auckland region so I would not have had much luck in my intended destination of the beaches of the Coromandel Peninsula. Instead, I spent some of the morning buying a cell phone from Vodaphone before heading out to the Auckland Museum.

The museum was much more touristy and family-oriented than I'm used to, but they had a great exhibit on Maori culture, origins and history. I spent a good 5 hours of fun-filled learning. The peoples of Oceania are believed to have originated from south east asia (either native/non-Chinese Taiwan or Indonesia), passing through the Philippine archipelago several thousand years ago - this definitely sparked my interest.

In the afternoon, I made the long haul to the Coromandel Peninsula. The drive took almost 200km and took me through dizzying switchbacks. As anticipated, it was quite rainy in Whitianga where my hostel was. However, that didn't stop me from acting like a fool at the beach and just having some fun.

I really hope I'll be seeing more sun the rest of my trip. But be assured, I won't let that stop me from seeing the outdoors!

Day 2 :: Auckland and a New Hero

Day 02 - Auckland and a New Hero

I spent most of the morning sleeping and then making the long drive back to Auckland, which surprisingly I did not reach until 2:00 in the afternoon. Most of my afternoon was honestly spent resting and taking care of some logistics/planning. Unfortunately, my long-awaited kayak adventure to Rangitoto Island just 7km off the harbour shores of Auckland was cancelled due to strongs winds and chance of rain.

However, late in the evening I did get a chance to walk down Queens Street to check out the tourist shops, restaurants and banks. The highlight of the day was meeting Vladimir Yarets (check out www.yarets.com). A man with the spirit of a true adventurer, whose current purpose as he describes it is to "enter the Guiness Book of World Records as the only deaf and mute individual to travel all of the former Soviet Union, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Austrailia on a motorcycle. And if many foreign languages wasn't difficult enough... we did manage a "conversation" with nothing more hand gestures and facial expressions. For example, I "gestured" to him that I was from New Jersey/New York; and he told me he had been to NYC 3 times - each time as a hub for 3 cycles around the US.

He's been travelling for 7 years now, and has made it to New Zealand (apparently). With some donations for petrol (what we call "gas"), he is hoping to make it to Japan. I asked him if he'd thought about Philippines, but honestly - I wouldn't blame him if he skipped it.

Day 1 :: Northland Region

Day 01 - Northland

I landed in Auckland this morning around 5am on Wed NZ time. For those on the US East Coast, that's Tuesday around 11am. My Mitsubishi Outlander rental was already waiting for me, and it took me just a few minutes to get accustomed to driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car.

My arrival was a bit disheartening - after I set out in my rental car for the Northland region, the skies were overcast with scattered showers, effectively hiding the view of the ocean and the distant hills and forests that I had read so much about.

After driving 300km and 5 hours, I reached Opononi around lunch time. By then the sun had come out, and blue skies and warm winds greeted me at the beaches near Hokianga Harbour. I picked up some snacks at the local "dairy" (that's like a convenient store to us Americans) and rushed to the beach. I washed off the plane-scum with the South Pacific seawater, and laid on the sand for about an hour.

With the sun still high in the sky around 2PM, I took a 30km drive through the Waipoua Kauri Forest just south of the harbour. Kauri trees are like the redwoods of the south pacific - ginormous. It involved twisting narrow roads and several short hikes to see the most of the sights.

After all this, my energy levels were still up. I took some gravel roads on the way back to Opononi and found the trailhead of a short 2km trek for the Wai-o-te Marama trail. I followed some muddy footprints through wet fern-tree and beech forests. About 15 min into the trail, I found a small swimming hole and a small waterfall where splashed around for a bit. I continued on up-and-up into dark forests and high ridges. The further I went on, the darker it got and the crazier the sounds I heard. Though this was the land of the Lord of the Rings, I felt more like I was in Jurassic Park.

After making it back safely, I stopped by Webster's Cafe&Restaurant back in Opononi where I ordered the freshly-caught fish of the day (a type called Dori... ala "Finding Nemo?") served with a banana salsa (a concoction of banana, capsicum (what we call "red peppers"), green onions, cucumbers, lime and orange juice with a possible hint of salt).

For my first day in New Zealand, I didn't do too bad. I re-learned how to drive, drove 300+km, hiked about 4km total and soaked up some sun on a beach in the South Pacific. Just imagine what I'll be doing in the next 23 days!

Day 0 :: Fly-by over America's Great West

Day 00 - Enroute to Auckland

To reach New Zealand, I would fly starting from Denver with a stop-over in San Francisco before continuing on to Auckland. Enroute to San Francisco, I got a great shots of the Rockies and the Colorado Plateau - including Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California.