Day 3 Kaitaia

I should probably mention how lovely the hostel I’m staying at in Kerikeri is – the owners, Victoria and David are the most welcoming people you could want, they picked me up and dropped me off at the bus stop, despite the bus stop being less than 10 minutes from the hostel. They’ve just bought the place and are busy renovating everything so the hostel itself doesn’t look amazing, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a completely different story in a few months!

Today I headed into the centre of Kerikeri to nose about and visit the Northland Farmers market and Arts and Crafts market.

Firstly, Kerikeri centre is miniscule, as in, it’s one row of little shops and cafes, and then you’re out of the centre – it took a grad total of 20 minutes to walk up and down – that’s including dawdling at every shop and peering in every, single, window. Tiny.

The market however was so lovely. That was tiny too, as expected, but it was pretty much everything you want in a local farmers market – lots of local little stores selling stuff they’ve grown and made themselves. There were cheese stalls selling cheese they made in their kitchen, and honey stall freshly harvested, lots of apples and avocados, as well as a bakery stall selling the most amazing-smelling pastries! It was cute, and it was a fun way to spend my last few hours in Kerikeri.

As I said Kerikeri is tiny, and apart from the Rainbow Springs trek and the Stone store there wasn’t much to detain me so at lunch time I jumped in the northlander and headed up to Kaitaia (key-tie-ah, emphasis on the Key).

Not that there’s very much here either, it’s a tiny little town, but from here I plan to take a tour up to Cape Reinga, the most northerly point in NZ and do a few bits and pieces up there!

 Weirdly I was worried my accent was fading on the bus (there’s really not a lot to do on a tiny little bus, if I can even call it a bus… more a minivan) But the woman at the iSite who booked my tour, the couple I asked for directions since I had no map, and the owner of the hostel all knew straight away I was British – not lost the accept yet!

Also I’m in a hostel room with a lovely girl from Germany – quite enjoying not having full hostel rooms

Day 2 Rainbow Springs

Firstly, the stars here are amazing. I mean, the stars throughout NZ are simply beautiful and 100x better than anything I’ve seen back in the UK as you always see the milky way quite distinctly. But last night? I swear it was a star gazers dream, I completely forgot to take a picture as I just got caught up looking up.

Today I woke with the sunrise and after a quick breakfast I head out looking for the trek I wanted to do. Now I’ve mentioned before that Kiwi’s aren’t big on signposting and never was that more true than today. I ended up going down 4 wrong roads because none, NONE of them were marked on any of my maps. And, of course, there are never any road signs in NZ

 It's hard to mind getting lost when you're getting lost that's just so pretty- these trees were massive! The bushes at the bottom were over three times my height!

 I did eventually find the track though and after seeing a slightly daunting warning not to attempt it when the river was in flood or after heavy rain I set off (I should maybe mention that last night it rained… pretty heavily)

The walk to Rainbow Springs was simply beautiful and definitely one of my favourites – the foliage was stunning and the path ran right along side the river so you’d often catch a glimpse of some rapids and the soar of the crashing river was your constant backdrop.

I’m really glad I set out early in the morning too, as despite it being winter here I definitely understand why its called the ‘winterless north’ as by around 10 it really started to heat up.

Just before I got to the waterfall everything went quite quiet, until I turned a corner on the path and got COMPLETELY drenched. I suppose the heavy rain had made the waterfall play up but my glasses were a blurry mess within seconds and my top was wet through!

So I quickly went up the cliff side to get a drier view of the falls.

 The walk back flew by and the whole trek only took a few hours so I decided to venture further along the river towards the Basin Reserve as I still had plenty of time. The section was definitely harder, purely because it was intensely muddy after the rain.

There also may have been one, or two terrifying moments that the mud was just too slippery and I did a crazy little wobble/skid towards the sheer drop down the river.

Despite nearly tumbling into the river a few times when I saw a thin, muddy little track to a second, surprise, waterfall I couldn’t resist. Although I think it was wading down to the rocks that really did it for my shoes – they’re now retired in the bin

I really love it when I come across a NZ heritage sight or historic landmark, because they always just seem so new to me! This was a historic power station that, weirdly, is just open for the public!

Steadily the path widened until I ended up in a park, from here I went to the Stone Store, which is the oldest stone building in New Zealand, and the missionary buildings - all of which look lovely in the sunshine

Everyone that works there is dressed in traditional clothing – think long dresses, corsets and shawls. And they sell only locally sourced bits and pieces, including preserves and jams made from the fruit grown in the gardens. They also make sure to sell a lot of what the store would have originally sold – gunpowder tea, handmade beeswax candles etc

Really falling in love with the horizontal lifestyle here in Kerikeri – the weath certainly doesn’t harm either! Walking around in t-shirts and shorts in winter? Yes please!

Day 1. To the Far North

I think I’m going to do the same thing I did on the south island, as although continuously posting daily might not be the most interesting thing to read (I know you only really look at the pictures mum!) I really think that when I look back and want to reminisce about this year quotidian posts will really help.

I feel like waiting until you’ve something interesting to show, or lumping days together, means you never write about the little things – and the little things are important! Looking back it’s almost always the little things that actually made a difference, and yet they’re so rarely recorded.

I’m travelling New Zealand with only my little backpack again (I one I used for travelling Italy) I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to survive 3 weeks with so few clothes… I’m sure it’ll be fine though! My suitcase is currently next to Hanne’s in Tiffany and Centaine’s cottage as Hanne and me are meeting up in Hamilton on the 17^th where we’re going to finally say goodbye after having a sleep over in the lounge!

(me, Annda and Hanne all getting ready to leave1)

The plan is to try and cover as much as possible of the Northland, Bay of Islands, Corromandel, Bay of Blenty, East Cape and Taupo, so right now I’m in Kerikeri for 2 nights before I head further north (although I probably won’t be able to upload this until next week in Whitianga)

This morning was surprisingly hard, scrap that, this week has been pretty hard. I’ve made some truly amazing friends that I’m determined to not let out of my life, and knowing that we’re not going to see each other for months and months was pretty difficult. And of course knowing that I’m no longer a student in New Zealand anymore was weird, I’m incredibly lucky I still have 3 weeks travelling NZ and then over 40 days travelling all over north America. But it’s just strange to think I’ve actually finished my exchange year… I just can’t believe a year has past – saying goodbye to mum at the airport and crashing at 3pm in Thailand seem so far away, and yet I can’t believe an entire year has passed!

(the hostel room I have to myself)

This week has been simply draining. Aside from having a few panic attacks when weighing my suitcase (I swear I’ve only bought 3 things?!), last minute cramming for exam (I’ll never learn to revise earlier than the day before), nerve-wracking end results, and 2 leaving dinners, it’s been the countless goodbyes as we all disperse across the world that have been really hard. I’ve spent 8hrs on a coach today so I’ve spent most of it either dozing for reflecting on my time here - so needless to say I’m feeling rather introspective at the moment.