Kia Ora

Kia Ora

Interesting facts.

NZ. or Aotearoa In Maori, means 'The Land of the long white cloud'. It is quite a young country, geologically active, with tectonic faults and volcanoes, glaciers and rivers constantly building and eroding land. It consists of many islands, the main ones being the North and South island. It used to be part of one land mass, Gondwana, and split off 80 million years ago, taking with it its unique plants and bird life. The first Eastern Polynesian settlers arrived 750 years ago, and the first Europeans to settle arrived in 1769 after discovery by James Cook.

As it is a long thin country, there are several climates and micro climates within, from sub tropical in the North and temperate (similar to UK) in the South. The total population is around 4.2 million ( UK has nearly 63 million) of which 1 million are based in Auckland. Auckalnd also known as the 'The city of sails' (due to a high proportion of boat ownership) is the biggest city, though not the capital, which is Wellinton. Auckland’s weather is warm/hot long summers with mild and wet winters. (average annual sunshine hours= 2050. Manchester=1200 hrs) and (annual average rain=1240mm. Manchester=810mm!) most rain falling as heavy tropical showers in the winter months of June-July

Saturday 25 September 2010

Bay of Islands

View from apartment
Time for a break. Jax had been working lots of extra hours and got Friday off. This meant we could sneak off for a long weekend and after the recent storms we decided to head towards the sun and go North. The bay of islands is where modern NZ started with the first European settlement in Russell.  We stayed in Paihia (across the water from Russell) which although is only about 5km away from Russell is a boat ride or a long drive around.
View of Russell from ferry

We got a great deal on wotif and stayed in a lovely seaview apartment right by the beach. We walked to Waitangi (where the treaty between the Maori's and the English was signed), had some great meals and took the ferry over to Russell.
Police station in Russell




Hunternwasser's Toilets
Beach at Paihia
The weather was fantastic and it was a wrench to have to go home. On the way back we stopped off at NZ's most famous toilets - (Hunternwasser's in Kawaka) and the Shakespear Regional park on the Hibiscus Coast just North of Auckland. More photos here
Lambs in Shakespear
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