Happy in Hahei!

Got up this morning feeling slightly more upbeat, which wasn’t that hard seeing as I was pretty rock bottom yesterday. The reason for this change of mood was probably because I now had a mission – unpack and repack bag and then go get the Stray bus. Thankfully it wasn’t as painful as usual packing, although it never gets any easier, no matter how many times I have done it now!

I said goodbye to Joe who was heading out for his second day at work and walked to the YHA for 7.45am (I was a bit worried I would get left behind again!) and it started raining, hmmmm – I really love Auckland. After a relatively short wait, I saw a flash of orange go round the corner at the bottom of the road and then bus arrived – I was incredibly relieved! The driver jumped out – it was Daisy – the one who had left me behind before!

I hopped on the bus and there were a few people on it, but apparently I was the last pickup, so that was it – 11 of us. After stopping briefly to pick up takeaway coffee (best coffee I’ve had so far in NZ), Daisy took us to a hill, well a volcano actually, called Mount Eden, where we could look out and see the whole of Auckland from way up high. I couldn’t be certain but I am pretty sure that it looked as boring from that height as it did from the ground!

Back on board the bus, Daisy took us to the Stray office and we were told all about how to book (I think the idea was that there would be lots of new people who needed inducting into the process, but actually it wasn’t necessary). We then herded ourselves back onto the bus and we set off.

Daisy got us to introduce one another on the bus, so we had to completely make stuff up about someone and tell everyone about that person over the mic, then that person would come up and tell the real facts about themselves. It was a good icebreaker and very funny, certainly got us all chatting, which was cool. The journey itself was quite long and we stopped on the way at a veggie shop and a supermarket to get supplies. We then had to make a quick stop at a garage to get the clutch fixed!

The difference between this bus ride and most of the others I have been on was that we were all chatting such a lot that it made it way more fun. Every now and then Daisy would tell us some interesting facts. For example, there are around 4 million people in NZ, around a quarter of these live in Auckland, there are over 40 million sheep in NZ, there are over 100 million possums. That is a lot of possums! They’re actually a pest here and the government is trying to cull them as they are endangering lots of native bird species. We drove along a road through a massive forest and Daisy told us that this specific area is known for the fact that are lots of marijuana plants growing in the wild. Apparently the possums really like eating the leaves, but they then get stoned and this turns them into road kill as they just sit on the road and watch the cars speeding towards them, then splat!

After a bit more of a drive through more hills and seeing more cows and sheep, we came to Hahei. We were staying in a holiday park and had a cabin for us all, with a big kitchen/dining area. I ended up sharing a room with Rebecca, a really nice teacher from Gloucester.

The sun was shining and it was actually nice and warm, so Rebecca and I definitely wanted to make the most of it, so decided to take a walk to find Cathedral Cove - Daisy said it would take approximately two and a half hours. We set off along the beach and appreciated the beautiful views across the bay and how fine and light the sand was. We then had a bit of a monster climb up a trail/track that lead there – it was nothing like the Rocky Bay ‘track’ – we actually knew where we were going as there were signs along the way and an actual pathway! The path brought us to a lookout point and it was an even better view from there, looking down over the really long beach, with the sunlight dancing off the sea.

When we made it to Cathedral Cove, we were really rather impressed by its beauty. The cliff face has a massive hole in it, which means you can walk through from one beach to the other, but as you walk through, you appreciate how wide this section of rock is, making the hole seem even bigger. The hole looks arched, like a church doorway, so I guess that is how it got its name. Standing high out of the water are two massive rocks, like pillars, one either side of the cliff.

Having appreciated the beach and views for a while, we headed back to the lodge and once again enjoyed the views across the sea. When we arrived, we had to get changed into our swimmers (or ‘togs’) really quickly as we were all being taken to Hot Springs Beach. The bus was full, which confused us a bit as it had been half empty before, but it turned out to be the people from the Adventure Tours bus (sister company to Stray) who were staying in the cabin next to us. We all went together, with the AT driver Ali Barbar behind the wheel – Daisy enjoyed being driven for a change so sat at the back of the bus with us for the ten minute journey!

We arrived at the beach and it was considerably nippier than it had been at the other beach earlier. It was also super busy, with lots and lots of people standing in and around one particular part of the shore line where there were lots of rocks. The reason for its popularity is that this beach is famous for having hot spots where you can feel the water coming through the sand really hot. Volcanic activity underground means that certain parts of the beach are hot. People usually dig a hole at low tide and sit in the hot water that comes up from underneath. Ali told us that the water was actually really rather hot. Sadly for us the tide was not very low and didn’t seem to be shifting, so most people were giving up on digging a hole and instead just wading out into the water and burying their feet in a hot spot. This is exactly what I did. It was most odd because it meant you had warm legs, very hot toes but the rest of your body (ie the bit outside the water) was freezing! It was fun and at some points my feet got a bit too hot! I stood in the water chatting to Ali, Daisy and a nice German guy called Lucas, whilst most of the others from my bus stood out of the water. We even saw a stingray swim past us! Eventually it was time to get out and then we felt really cold!

Back at the cabin everyone got busy making dinner – we were having a group BBQ to ‘bond’! Everyone mucked in to get it all ready (my job – laying the table), then we all sat and enjoyed a delicious spread of BBQ chicken, steak and all sorts, with paprika potatoes and a very tasty feta salad. Daisy hadn’t told us before, but he had brought us some Stray Dog’s Piss wine for us too, so we toasted a good trip. He had also bought dessert of icecream which was great and the flavours were super amazing – my favourite was called ‘Goody Goody Gum Drops’; spearmint icecream with sweets like Jelly Tots in it!

Then, after washing up we started playing some games, they were drinking games, only we weren’t really drinking, but it didn’t matter as we really got into them and just laughed and laughed. A couple of the games involved us having silly made up names, so that meant that these names stuck and we referred to one another as these names for the rest of the night. The games themselves were really silly and incredibly good fun, they certainly helped us settle as a group and get to know one another. We all laughed so much our sides hurt! I got very excited during one game when a praying mantis randomly landed on the table in front of me! We had a good look at it and then it flew off! Ali and a few people from Adventure Tours came and joined us and we played a great game called Mafia – a bit link wink murder, but we all took it very seriously which made it even funnier.

We sat and chatted for a bit and then all headed to the beach – it was dark so was rather hard to see where we were going. We chilled on the beach for ages, chatting, laughing and looking at the stars, which were so clear; lighting up the sky like a patchwork of dots. Ali then built a very small fire and we all sat round that chatting some more, until we ran out of fuel for the fire, so headed back to the cabin. A few of us stayed up a bit longer and carried on chatting, before turning in. I definitely felt so much more upbeat and had really enjoyed being a part of this group!