Back to the heat: Paihia, Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga, New Zealand

I was super bummed when I actually checked out my dates for my stop in New Zealand. It seems that with the travel days I only really had about 10 full days there. Then I started to do some research on what to do in and around Auckland and realized there is tons to do there and I had a feeling I wouldn't be disappointed.

New Zealand is absolutely gorgeous. As soon as you head north 20 minutes from Auckland you are all of sudden in beautiful country side. The way you travel around NZ, particularly if you're a solo traveler, is through the numerous bus companies around and book a package. I booked with Stray bus a trip that would take me from Auckland up to Paihia, a day trip to Cape Reinga, and then back to Auckland.

Here are some of my shots from the ride from Auckland to Paihia:

A picture of an 800 year old tree:

A quick stopover to take a ride in a glass bottom boat at a marine reserve. We saw sting rays!! 



Paihia (it was aight)



Paihia was really really pretty. The water is an unbelievable blue/green. For the first time I thought, "oh yeah, I guess this is the South Pacific".

After the third day of chillin on the beach I took a trip up to Cape Reinga. This is the spot where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific. The day was overcast so it was near to impossible to check out the water but I got a few good creepy shots.

A long way from home!

Our trip involved going to the sand dunes right before the beach to do some dune surfing. It was tons of fun but that hill was super hard to climb and took like 5 minutes to get to the top. Here are some pictures of the dune surfing and people eating it:

Then it was on to 90 mile beach on the Tasman side of the island. For all those who are curious, it isn't actually 90 miles long. Back in the day they knew that cattle could travel 30 miles in one day. Since it took the cattle 3 days they assumed that the beach was 90 miles long. What they didn't take into consideration is that it's much harder for cattle to walk on the sand as they use much more energy. The beach is actually about 55 miles long.

Some surfer enjoying no one in sight:

The trip was totally worth it although it was overcast. Don't let the pictures fool you - I got one killer sunburn that day because I didn't reapply frequently enough.

My last little adventure was a trip to the hole in the rock. (The picture above isn't the real deal, just another hole in a rock). I took a boat ride and saw some of the 144 islands in the bay on a very fast speed boat. Apparently it is the fastest in the bay and we went over 100 km per hour. Woo hoo! The experienced was enhanced by the classic rock playlist. Thank you to Matt and Jasmine for helping to sponsor the hole in the rock tour! It was soooo much fun and never would have done it if it weren't for their Christmas gift.

It was a short but adventurous trip to New Zealand! I can't wait to go back and check out the rest of the country. Now on to Sydney to catch up with some friends and more sun!

Much love,

Maggie

Auckland, New Zealand

I've landed! Well, to be honest, I landed well over a week ago. It's been incredibly difficult to write blog posts here as the internet is crazy expensive (like 4 USD an hour) and getting pictures uploaded is a nightmare. But here I am!

The flight from San Fran to Auckland was about 13 hours long. It really wasn't all that bad since I decided to watch as many movies as humanly possible. It was pretty funny to be in the midst of my 5th rom com to notice that in one of the scenes Jason Bateman is talking on his cell phone right outside my front door. I tried to tell the woman next to me and was about to yell out, "That's my old front door!" but of course, she was asleep. (If any of you want to check it out it's in the movie the Switch).

After traveling for a while in Spanish speaking countries, arriving in New Zeland was a breeze. I just asked people when I didn't know where things were, they understood me, and gave me the answer. Simple. Here are some of my initial thoughts about Auckland:

- The city is clean and smells like flowers!

- It's summer here and the weather is great, like 80's everyday

- The internet is way too expensive and free wifi is impossible to find

- Driving 20 minutes outside the city is like a different country

- All the women wear super cute clothes and I need to watch it so that I won't go shopping

That's it for now! Sorry this post is so short but I paid like 10 dollars to download pictures today! The next post will be all about my trip to the North of New Zealand.

Greta Goes Glocal

It's been a while! Thanks for staying with me during my travel break. It's been a great few weeks of seeing my family and good friends.

I arrived in New Hampshire during (surprise!) a snowstorm. I left NYC at 10 in the morning and got home at 8 at night so it was quite a journey. From then on it was full on Christmas mode before my siblings and siblings in laws came up to NH to celebrate. Our fam has increased significantly and it's a tight fit in the Hureau house with all of us there. Needless to say it was great to have everyone there and Nes (although his stocking didn't make the pic below, I promise it was there) came home on Christmas Eve after being deployed for while. Check out the holiday shots Jasmine took!

 With some of the cousins, with the sweetest new addition: Katherine. She is so darn cute.

 Brothers and sis:

Adjusting to being home was cake. It's amazing how simple it is to get back into the swing of things, watch ridiculous amounts of television, and do nothing all day long. Then all of a sudden, it's time to hit the road once more. My first (somewhat unofficial) stop was San Francisco. It's the farthest west I've been (I know, insane) and all of my friends rave about the place.

Believe the hype, people. San Francisco is great. While I wasn't the best tourist I did see some sights and managed to spend some quality time with some cool people. (If you are reading and I didn't get to see you I'm very sorry! I'll be back for sure to see everyone and do that damn Alcatraz tour that kept on selling out on me). A big shout out to those who took care of me and delt with my crazy anxiety the couple days before leaving.

It's hard to believe that the second half of my trip has commenced. It feels like yesterday when I boarded the plane to Bogota. I couldn't be more ready to get back to traveling, seeing some friends I've met along the way and catch up with those living abroad.

Here are some photos of the (very cold) San Francisco:

Funny story about this picture. I decided to let Grandma give me a fortune. The card said, and I quote, "A friend will urge you to take a trip. Don't do it. Your best interest lies in remaining at home. I'm depending on your good sense to lead you on the right path". Clearly Grandma doesn't know my good sense or me. Boo to her and her fortune.

 Very very excited:

 Yay! Fun streets!

As many of you have guessed, yes, I'm already in New Zealand. There isn't too much to report as the first 24 hours were spent sleeping off my crazy jet lag. But more soon to come!