The Northlands of NZ: Day 1

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Amazing 3 days of incredible places

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25 October 2014, Saturday.

In the first day of this trip, I and my friend Thiago had to wake up at 7am to take a bus at the end of Queen Street and start travelling from there. In the bus, we met our friend from Brazil, Armando, and together with us, there were more 6 Brazilian girls.

Our first stop after 3 to 4 hour of travel was Paihia, where we had lunch and spent almost 5 hours, with some great touristic options. Armando took a boat and went to see the Dolphins and 'The Hole in the Rock' while I and Thiago walked around the city.

Paihia is close to the city of Russel, which was the first capital of New Zealand.

It is an amazing place to relax - check the vibe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlU1ard3A6c -, and for our surprise, a Festival called "It!" was happening while we were there, so we enjoyed by the sound of Supergroove, a local band very talented! And speaking about talent, you could hear music coming from another direction, an old man that was killing in the guitar!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3gy2jz_US8
Check out the playing here!

All that to enjoy and chill...

Since we were going to stay there until 17h me and Thiago took the opportunity to kayak to an island close to the beach of Pahia.

We went there, spent some time and I took a turn by foot along this island. Later, we tried to turn around by kayak but it was too much windy and the waves were pushing us to the rocks so we gave up.

After 17h, it was time to go further. We took the bus again and went to the hostel only stopping for the famous fish and chips and after on the liquor store.

At the corner, where we got the 'Fish and Chips'

A Maori Building at the Hostel

Close to 19h the night was coming and since Kaitaia - the city where we went after Paihia - was small, with not too much lights, the sky became beautiful. Lots of colours and the moon, big and yellow. On the horizon a light blue and dark tone. All in the same sky.

At night, all the group played games and had fun while drinking. I slept around 00:30 to wake up 7:40 am for the next day.

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Our trip continues!

See ya!