Northern Escape...

Someone famous once was quoted for saying... "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I did end up going where I was meant to be..." (or something like that).

Last week I decided to leave the rain and cold weather of the South Island and fly up to Auckland and go even further north with Yvon (whom I mentioned in a previous blog). The weather on the South Island has become more and more like autumn (and in the mountains they've already had snow to 1000metres).

So the journey north was well worth the money.

Yvon picked me up at the airport and then we explored Auckland - even went to see the NZ Ballet perform their show "From here to there"... almost ironic the title and my travels. The next morning we left the B&B and headed to the Dragon Tree Lodge in Waipu (pronounced why poo - I say because you might have too). Anyway, the B&B was beautiful and had magical views of Uretiti Beach - which was paradise - and so wonderful to be back in the water and not being attacked by sandflies.

Then we made the decision to head further north to Kerikeri and explore the Bay of Islands before heading even further to see Cape Reinga and Cape North (northernmost point of NZ). Unfortunately for us rain kept us from going to Tepotupotu Bay for the beach/camping area for a swim in what I remember was one of the prettiest beaches in the country. We did however end up at the Te Paki Stream giant sand dunes - hard work climbing sand hills the height of small apartment buildings.

The week was capped off by returning to Waipu and the Dragon Tree Lodge where we spent two more days on the beach before taking the scenic route back to Auckland.

Auckland provided the opportunity to do some souvenir shopping at Mr. Vintage t-shirt shop http://www.mrvintage.co.nz/ and other places around the City of Sails, even finding some bargains as I went along... we even ended up going up SkyTower (just like the CN Tower except not as high). The views were spectacular, an amazing way to see Auckland. We were even fortunate enough to see a few people do the Sky Jump from Sky Tower - a 192m plunge off the side... looked like fun to me! Don't worry I didn't do it dad.

Dinner was at an Indian Restaurant near Ponsonby Road with a friend of Yvon's named Daniel - another great swiss guy.

An amazing week overall - back to reality though with cold air being quite prevalent and southerly winds - hopefully they will help me as I travel up the east coast.