Paihai: Bay of Islands

G'day, rellies, mates!

I am finally finished blogging about my trip! Read all about it.

Wednesday I took a bus up to Paihai, aka the Bay of Islands, to meet Sanna and Joanna. It was a long trip- seven hours on two buses- but the scenery made it worth it. I'm no botanist, obviously, but New Zealand mix of typical forest-y and in-your-face tropical plants is striking. There are pines growing right next to palms and giant ferns. The forest is broken up by huge swatches of meadow covered in patches of daisies, dandelion and clover. The meadows have pockets of densely packed tropical trees and flowers with amazingly neon colors. And of course, there's the sheep. Everywhere you go, there's sheep. I'm not jaded yet, though- I still think they're cute. I understand why you might think the brown, matted unsheared ones are ugly but the little lambs are heart-meltingly adorable.I saw a lamb playing with his mother that was so freaking cute it made me briefly reconsider my no-kids-ever rule. Briefly. That's not happening. Ever. If I want a kid I think I'll just get a lamb. They're soft and cuddly and when I get bored with it I'll just put it out to pasture.

Our bus driver was not so taken with the sheep. According to him they're "very dumb" animals. "They don't die," he told us, "they just forget to wake up." Zing! But he did kindly point

out one of the regions attractions, Warkworth's famous pink sheep. He suspected their hue had something to do with the "candy floss" sheep in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Sanna and Joanna were kindly waiting for me in the pouring rain when I arrived in Paihai at 8:30 (an hour late). Paihai is tiny- a population of about 800- and it's composed mostly of hostiles and resurant/bars. Since it was so late, there was nothing to do except watch TV at the hostel. I didn't mind though, the hostel was actually quite adorable, especially considering it cost about $17 a night. It's called The Pickled Parrot after it's mascot, Rocky the parrot. Apparently Rocky once got into some alcohol left out by some backpackers and got "pickled" (drunk) and really annoyed the rest of the guests. Rose, the friendly owner, must have thought this was funny enough to change the hostel's name.

Rose and Rocky (not my picture). Rocky screeching. Rocky attacking my shoe and Rocky meowing.

Rocky was fearless, climbing on anything and everyone. He meowed every time he wanted to be picked up which I found endearing despite my dislike of parrots. Less endearing was his love of biting buttons, zippers, laces.

Thursday morning the three of us took a ferry to the historic town of Russel. I don't know much about Russel except that it was New Zealand's first established town that used to be called Kororareka. You can read about the history here. There seems to have been quite a lot of unsavory behavior and disputes in the past, so it's probably worth reading about. But I just walked around. It's a pretty good place for wandering. The views were spectacular.

The exotic ocean views and the quaint British-colonial style buildings made it seem, as Sanna put it, "like the set of Pirates of the Caribbean." It was beautiful. Highlights of the trip were:

Christ Church: New Zealand's oldest established church.

I took a bunch of pictures of the graveyard...

...but there were no ghosts in any of them. Not even ghost sheep.

Long Beach: Name says it all really. Well actually, if it was named "Long So Gorgeous You're Angered You Don't Live Here Beach" the name would say it all. Pow! Comedy, coming at you!

Even the sand was beautiful! (Just like my feet.)

We ended our trip with a stop by New Zealand's oldest police station.

Then we ate candy on the beach while waiting for the ferry to come. It was a satisfying end to the trip. And I hope this is a satisfying end to my post because I can't physically blog anymore. I think I've spent more time on this post than I did in Paihai.

If you're interested, there are many more pictures of Paihai on my Picasso web album. Until next time, cheerio!