After arriving at Auckland airport we had a long drive up to Paihia where we were staying for a few days. It took roughly three and a half hours but there was some gorgeous scenery along the drive. I was shocked at how green New Zealand was compared to Australia! Once we arrived I freshened up before going to see Josh, one of my friends at home who has been away for almost a year. It was so surreal seeing someone in a place completely out of context! We were supposed to be having a quiet drink but it never turns out like that... So after going to a couple of bars, we ended up back at Pipi Patch for some shots and dancing! I'd expected a small quiet town on the coast but it was very much geared up for backpackers. It was lovely to catch up with Josh, we were swapping stories from our travels and reminiscing on home. He'd been working there for the last month so knew lots of people, so being introduced constantly to new faces (and I'm not great with names at the best of times...). Once the bar shut everyone headed down to the beach to continue the drinking and the antics. Someone had a guitar out as well. It reminded me so much of Agnes Water and my little hostel family there! We had so much fun when we worked together and most of our evenings ended up down at the beach!

The next day Mum and I headed to KeriKeri in the morning to take a look around and grab some breakfast. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and we had fairly torrential rain for most of the day. We checked out a chocolate factory famous for its work with macadamia nuts so that was pretty cool. After that we left for Waitangi Treaty Grounds which is a very important cultural and historical sight for New Zealanders and in particular the Maori people. The land was where the treaty between the British and the Maori was signed nearly 200 years ago which formed a friendship, or an alliance, between the two countries. The history of the Maori is very different from that of the Aboriginal people in Australia. It was quite scary and sad how different Britain treated the two sets of people, even though it was happening at roughly the same point in history. We were given a guided tour of the grounds and went to see a cultural show performed by Maori people. They demonstrated some of the Hakka moves, songs, dance, weapons, attack moves etc that would have been used by their ancestors. They pulled some of the scariest faces! Haha.

The next morning we went out on a dolphin cruise and tour of the Bay of Islands. Thankfully the weather was much better than the day before! Within half an hour of being on the boat we found a huge pod of dolphins, maybe 20 to 30 of them! They were jumping out of the water and swimming all around the boat, there was even TWO baby ones. They were so tiny and adorable, it was amazing. Once we left the bay to carry on they chased the boat playing in the waves, leaping out alongside. It was very very cool. Our next stop was the Hole in the Rock, which apparently is world famous. It was a pretty cool sight and on calmer days the boat would have been able to sail through it but the ocean was pretty rough (we were cruising along the outer section of the Pacific). Then we got taken to one of the smaller islands where we were allowed to get off and explore. Sailing into the bay we were greeted by more dolphins! The views from the island were spectacular. The whole area was just so beautiful, like paradise. The only thing that could have made the trip better would have been a whale sighting, but they are quite rare. We got dropped off in Russell which was across the bay from where we were staying. We had a late lunch and spent the afternoon wandering around there. After freshening up at the motel, we went out for some cocktails and dinner at a restaurant down the road which was lovely.