New Zealand on a tight budget.Day 6
Today we enjoyed a morning's walk into Paihia town and up through the forest to a look our over the Whaitangi Treaty Ground and the Bay of Islands. The weather was changeable and managed to turn the view from Tropical paradise to grey seascape just depending on the amount of cloud cover which came and went. The vegetation was wonderful and at the top we spent a very enjoyable half hour chatting with a young Derbyshire couple who have been travelling on and off for three years, swapping recommendations and ideas. After lunch back at the camp site we drove out to the colourful settlement of Kawakawa which has two main claims to fame, the first is that the heritage railway regularly sends its steam engine right up the middle of the main road - and the second is the world famous Hundertwasser toilets. Hundertwasser, an Austrian ecologist and architect, made his home nearby and was commissioner to design and build the toilets by the local community. Very much in the style of Gaudi, Miro and Manrique they are a riot of coloured tiles and stained glass and were a joy to use.
We drove round and back to Paihia and on the way passed a little convoy which was apparently Craig Harper's attempt of the NZ end to end cycle record which stands at just under 5 days. He only set off from Cape Reinga this morning so he is doing well but he was actually struggling up a steep incline when we passed him. Hope he makes it!
After that we visited a small local waterfall - which was slightly underwhelming. We had expected to go swimming afterwards but the wind has really got up and as Lester has a slight cold we decided to give it a miss.
Driving in NZ is a doddle! For a start off they drive on the proper side of the road and secondly there is no traffic - and what there is seems to be mostly really old Japanese cars - you know where the paintwork has started to discolour from the UV. The rest are pick ups or campers so no one is moving very fast - and certainly not the BV!
Tomorrow we take a short ferry trip across the bay to Russell to explore the Bay of Islands further.