Our first experience of the Kiwi bus is the trip to Bay of Islands. We instantly notice the difference. The drivers are much more organised they book the hostels and even organise your activities with a Kiwi Experience discount. This is only a taster of what the bus will be like as from Auckland we will have the same driver with most of the same people for a whole week. Very Exciting!!
Paihia is where we stay in the Bay of Islands. It is on the mainland and is the gateway to the islands. The islands themselves are not really habitable, there are a few that you can stay on but only if you have a tent. There is literally nothing but trees on the island so we opt with staying on the mainland.
There are loads of activities to do and we are spoilt for choice. One of the must see things here is the hole in the rock. With this mind We decide on the Excitor, a speed boat which takes you through the rock and is SUPPOSE to go really fast, getting you really wet.
When we get on the boat we decide to take the extreme seats at the front. The driver convinced everyone that they we so scary that one guy (Tom) actually moved seats. Ready for the ride of our lives we brace ourselves for the rush. After about 30 mintues of the hour ride we realise a slight movement in our facial features (cheek flapping) is as extreme as its gonna get. We spent about 10 minutes at the beginning being briefed on safety precautions, and suiting ourselves up in the worst plastic rain coats ever, to get off the boat dry.
But we did get to see some beautiful sights. The islands are really pretty and when we got the the rock it was amazing. Have a look at the pictures. Alot of the time you dont get to go through the rock because the sea is too choppy so we were quite lucky with this.
We stay the night here and eat our first Kiwi BBQ. The hostel has a cute name, The Pi Pi Patch, and the town is very similar to much of Oz (Beachy and welcoming).
Tomorrow we go back to Auckland before starting the REAL Kiwi experience.
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