Paihia

Dolphins off the starboard bow!!!
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Began my 'Stray' tour today, it's a hop on hop off bus tour of the north of the North Island (confused already).  It's good 'cos we have a guided tour to the various stops and it isn't continuous bus trips - I think I had enough of those in South America!!!

The first stop was a Kauri forest, lovely big trees that take forever to grow but are really beautiful and the Maori used them to make their 'Waka's' (boats).  Next stop off was 'Goat Island' to see the marine life, some really big fish - hope the picture comes out.

We were then priviliged to see and touch a Kiwi bird that had lost a leg,

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We were then priviliged to see and touch a Kiwi bird that had lost a leg, at a bird sanctuary and some baby blue penguins, Rachel even got to try and feed them!!!  There was also a talking Tui bird - so realistic, we thought someone was trying to kid us.

The next stop was Paihia, a lovely beach town with lots of boating activities.  I booked on a sailing boat and on a boat to go swimming with dolphins (this didn't work out tho' 'cos there were babies with the pod and you can't go in then - shame).

Ready for snorkelling
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went on a 4x4 trip up 90mile beach and up to Cape Reinga, where you can see the Pacific Ocean meet the Tasman Ocean - on some days you can actually see them meet apparently!!  I went sandboarding down the sand dunes - awesome!! and then we went back via Manganui, which is supposed to have the best fish and chips in NZ - fish was really fresh etc , but NO VINEGAR!!! they gave you lemons instead!!!!

Visited the Waitangi treaty grounds, where the original agreement was signed between the British and the Maori peoples, a very impressive place.