Flipper!
I haven’t done a massive amount of driving since I wrote yesterday. I went to Kerikeri where I went to the oldest building in New Zealand, the Stone Store; it’s the only stone building in the country. And it’s only about 200 years old. I then went to the most awesome waterfall called Rainbow Falls which is the biggest waterfall I’ve seen some far and the volume of water going over it was incredible!
I then drove to The Bay of Islands and stopped at the Waitangi Treaty House where the treaty was signed by the Maori’s and the British to keep New Zealand independant. To be honest, this was a real eye-opener for me. I know nothing of the politics of New Zealand. I just looked it up on wikipedia and found out that our queen is actually head of it. Anyway, there was also some fascinating artefacts there and a video explaining how it all happened and what went on. Also there is a beautiful wooden construction with carved Maori figures all over it which celebrates the unity of the many races of people living in New Zealand.
After that, I actually got to the Bay of Islands and parked up in the caravan site (although not before swapping my DVD’s at the Spacestation and booking my dolphin trip). This morning I got up and headed for my dolphin and Bay trip. We saw loads of dolphins although it’s hard to catch on camera because they come up for air so quick. Plus my camera has started to die on my after only 2 months. It seems to be eating batteries, I’m praying it’ll hold out another month before I can send it off to be fixed!
We also saw the Hole in the Rock and looked at some of the islands in the bay (there’s over 100). Most of them are holiday homes owned by rich Aucklander’s who can afford to have a full time caretaker for them!
That’s pretty much all for today, I’m heading back down again to Whangerai I think but I’m heading to some place I’ve been told I can buy cheap clothing so I can get some long jammies, another jumper and some gloves.
Notes so far on New Zealand:
- There’s quite a few Maori’s, which I was surprised about
- There’s not many people (4Million total!)
- There’s a lot of sheep but also a lot of cows
- I’ve seen two birds of prey with wingspans of at least a metre
- Woolworths over here is for food
- Diesel is cheaper than petrol
- Petrol is 1.91 NZD (less than a pound per litre)
- There’s not many places for me to use my cash card (they have chip and pin but only for mastercard and visa) and the ‘towns’ here are like villages in the UK so no ATM’s (not even at petrol stations)