THE INTERNAL - NEWSLETTER 35/04

BAY OF ISLANDS

That was a weekend to remember, it was. Things did not quite turn out the way we expected it, which had a lot to do with the weather, but still, it was an experience.

Nina, I, Steffi and Katja set out on Friday evening for the tour of our lives, a tour of the bay of Islands. We spent our first night in Paihia in a lovely backpackers which boasted of a pool and spa. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was too cold to jump in the pool, and the spa pool was occupied. This did not bother us much because we were starving, which led us to heap one of the picnic tables outside with food and alcohol, which naturally led to quite some interesting conversation.

The next day was a day we had been looking forward to, having booked a trip to swim with dolphins, though it turned out to be a “sight the dolphins” trip. On the boat we got to sit at the very head, right behind the railings and let our feet dangle free over the water. As the water was quite choppy, we had the ride of our lives, scaring the sh** out of the other passengers with our screams of excitement as each wave lifted the front of the boat, dropping it with such force and speed that our stomachs stayed a few moments longer in the air. Shortly after that, we sighted our first dolphins. The dolphins had numerous gannets hovering over them, this is how one can spot the dolphins. These

birds always move with the dolphins as this is one of the easiest ways for them to get food. The dolphins gather up fish close to the surface and this enables the gannets to catch them easily. This is a truly wondrous sight, as these birds actually dive into the water and grab the fish. They do about 150000 dives in their lives, but do not live that long as the dives spoil their eyesight, so they cannot fish anymore after a while and die of starvation.

We all started shrieking like love crazed teenagers at a concert of some boy group when we sighted the dolphins, trying all we could to touch them. There were many of them, and they kept swimming directly under the boat so we got to have them around us for quite a while. We sadly could not swim with them as there were babies among the group.

After this, we drove on to the Haruru Falls which Lonely planet correctly aptly describes as “attractive rather than spectacular”. We then took a one and a half hour walk through the Waitangi National Reserve, thinking we would end up in the Waitangi treaty ground (though not knowing exactly what it was) but we ended up at a golf course. That was a surprise, and shock.

We spent the night at a very nice hostel/Farmstay in Kahoe, which is about 12km away from Kaoe. Stefano was our host, a very friendly man who insisted on answering any question for a length of at least 5 minutes.

Our plan for Sunday was to visit Cape Reinga, board down the sand dunes, drive over the 90 mile beach, and we almost made it!

We spent Sunday night in another charming little hostel in Ahipara ( I would like to say at this point that all the hostels we stayed at were BBH members, and every one of them was lovely. I would advise you to get a BBH card if you are planning on staying in more than 10 different hostels. I will write more about it in the next newsletter).

Monday was our drive back to Auckland. We drove back over the west coast, taking a look at the giant kauri tree, which is about 2000 years old.

All in all I can say that the trip was a lot of fun, especially as I got to spend it with three very funny and lovely ladies. Hope we can have that much fun again soon.

ABOUT URUPUKAPUKA ISLAND

Hi, this is Diana and here is a short summary of our trip to Urupukapuka. I can summarize it in just two words “sau geil”

Saturday morning at 9:30 am we started our tour to the Island. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t really fine and it was very strenuous (at least for me). And it was a bit ugly to see that Robert wasn’t able to keep his breakfast in his stomach.

So we decided to drink a lot of alcohol after arriving J. It was really a long lasting evening we thought, but it was just twelve or one o’clock when the last of us went to bed. The sensitive ones among us caught a terrible sunburn, especially Bastian. He looked like a cute crayfish and everybody was making fun of him J.

The next day was not as fine as we had expected, that’s why we were not able to make a tour with the kayaks. So we took plan B and went around the island and climbed across the coast. The evening was a lot of fun as well. Some Kiwis invited us to come to their party; we only had to sing a nice song for them. Nobody was able to remember the words of the national anthem, so we decided to sing “alle meine Entchen”. They were fascinated, but I think it was just because they had no idea what we were singing about. After this the men introduced a Maori dance to us which was really interesting to watch. Some of the Kiwis prepared a special drink called “Kawha” if that’s the correct spelling. According to Christoph it tastes like muddy water. What ever…

The next day was quite good. Sun was shining and it was perfect weather for kayaking. That’s why it was a lot of fun for every one of us. We stopped at Roberton Island and Russel for chilling out. The whole time it was just fun and I was laughing every minute because the boys are very funny and quick-witted. I think each one of us will remember this trip with good feelings.

Close to 150 islands comprise the archipelago of small islands in the Bay of Islands. Most of them are uninhabited by man, many are still unexplored. About the only island which has some facilities is Urupukapuka Island lying northeast of Russell.
There are some 40 sites on the islands which are part of the Bay of Islands Maritime and Historic Park. Its visitor information centre is at Russell.
These islands may have marked walks, Maori pas and other historical sites, as well as recreation reserves.

WHAT’S UP THIS WEEKEND      

As we all are aware, Jan is leaving us on Sunday. It is always sad to have someone leave the group. Hope you enjoyed yourself here!

And what is the farewell party going to be? Well, since it is Halloween on the weekend, we are thinking of having a costume party. That will be simply hilarious don’t you all think?

Either that, or a beach party. It is actually up to Jan what he wants to do, so just write us all an email about which kind of party you prefer.

Saturday Night Fever

The fever has caught up with us. This is the last week of this musical and we will go there and try to get the late bird tickets. Hopefully we get in, as the tickets would just be 30$.

Deep Hard n Funky

I wrote about this party in the last newsletter, or the one before that. This is going to be a huge party, and it incidentally coincides with the last day of my internship, the 19th of November. So that is how I am going to celebrate it, but that is not supposed to mean that I in anyway did not enjoy this internship.

We have missed the early bird tickets however, so tickets are now 60$. You can just text “DHF” to the number 858 and so get your tickets. Hope to see you all there!

MESSAGE FROM JONATHAN

Hi Guys!  Well, that wasn’t the nicest long weekend, was it?  If you managed to get out of Auckland it was probably ok, but if you stayed around the weather wasn’t so great.  Oh well, when January rolls around it should be nice…last summer wasn’t so hot so we should be due for a good one.

This week I wanted to elaborate on something I wrote a few weeks ago.  Because we are an island here in NZ, any other country you travel to from here is literally “over seas”.  So when Kiwis want a week away someplace without having to jaunt all the way to Europe or North America, they will either head to Australia, some of the South Pacific Islands, or South Asia.

Australia is a topic in itself, and if you said it was more interesting than NZ I might not argue with you.  South Asia I will write about next time.  But the South and Central Pacific Ocean covers a huge section of planet earth and holds some interesting micro-states and Island territories, many of which you might not even have heard of.  Almost all of these are accessible from Auckland. 

For example, do you know where Kirabati (pronounced Kirabass) is?  How about Vanuatu or Nieue?  Each island state or territory has its own unique history, and many still reflect the legacies of colonialism.  The obvious examples are Tahiti and the other French possessions.  Apart from the misfortune of being French, others have different and interesting problems.  Fiji, for example, is nearly a 50-50 mixture of indigenous Fijians and people of Indian ancestry.  This has resulted in several coups since the 1970s.  But still, Fiji is beautiful and a weekend retreat on one of the islands would add something wonderful to anyone’s Down-under adventure.

Tonga also has an interesting history.  It is still a monarchy, and the King is huge (literally).  The Solomons Islands should probably be avoided due to instability caused by poverty.  Guam is overrun with snakes (and Americans).  Tahiti is all you could imagine it to be.  Even little NZ has a ‘territory’ known as the Cook Islands.

So if you get a chance, make sure that you get to some exotic stamps in your passport! Maybe arrange a stopover in one of these places when you return to Germany, or next time you come to NZ!

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY!