We watched this little kids show about Rugby for awhile, and then SkyNews was really the best option. Tim left to go get the car while I sat in the room (though I was willing to go down to the lobby to make it easier) with all of the luggage. We had some trouble figuring out how to get the luggage in the car since there was some weird sloping in the trunk. We ended up with two in the trunk and two in the back seat with one of the blue back packs, the orange bag, and the information bag. The city was so weird sitting on the left hand side of the car and not driving. It wasn’t the left line driving, or the driver on the right, it was that I was NOT the one driving on the left.
Auckland doesn’t seem to have suburbs to the north. It was city, and then country. A lot of fruit and bread stands everywhere. It was only 15 minutes to the Bee Center, the GPS was by far one of our best purchases for the trip. Took us right there. The store was really just a corner of the café, but we looked at it a bit, sampled a tiny bit of honey, and then wandered through the café until we found the menu outside. We had planned on eating breakfast there, but there was no breakfast food. Which was weird. How are you a Honey place that doesn’t feature honey at your café? No breakfast or honey foods.
On our way up to Waitangi, it took us through the side roads, so it was pretty solidly country. The country side was absolutely crazy. It had flat fields like Iowa, but huge rolling hills and mountains like Colorado, but then lots of trees and ferns and palm-ish trees, so it felt like we were in a jungle at times. I watched the roads for quite awhile, trying to help Tim with some of the iffy parts. But the terrain was just so weird, you could never put your finger on what it was like. To one side would be mountain, and the other side a flat plain. And then every once in awhile was ocean, BRIGHT blue or aquamarine ocean. So awesome. One can only take so many pictures of the country side, so after I awile I just had to stop.
After awhile, the GPS started us down a gravel road. LONG LONG story short, we now have to check the GPS anywhere we go. We probably added over an hour to our drive towards Waitangi. It was beyond ridiculous. The gravel roads were well done, but they wove up and down the mountainside and probably turned all the way the other direction every 50 feet or so, and it was constant side to side jerking, plus the vibration of the gravel, and Tim’s need to constantly shift between gears up and down the mountain, I was getting seriously ill. I couldn’t do anthing besides focus on my stomach not churning. Up and down and up and down and back and forth. It was miserable. And the gravel never ended. We lost a lot of time having to go 15mph. Especially since the lanes were only really big enough for a car and a half. And to one side was always a drop off. It was constant need to watch and be aware of coming cars. And there were none. For an hour. It was ridiculous. The amount of time we were wasting on a miserable road, Tim was beyond pissed. AND she did the exact same thing, trying to take us on a gravel road, for 12 miles. We stupidly listened, took half an hour, and now we shall never do that again.
We finally got to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, and almost knew instantly that it was a mistake. We both thought that this was the biggest Maori attraction and that this would be where we got all our Maori experience in. Clearly not. We even debated whether or not we should pay the $40 to go in. Up past the giant flag pole where the Treaty was actually signed, and into the Treaty House. We weren’t really sure what the house was for. Like, that was where the meeting was and things, but the overall presentation of the house was super scattered and not very well done. But really, it seems to be that the Kiwis act the same about the Treaty as we do about Thanksgiving. We celebrate it full tilt, but in reality, it is us stealing an entire culture away from the Native People. We finished up the Treaty house and then wandered over to the Maori house of sorts, just a really big room with ornate carvings on both the walls and ceilings. Pretty cool, we had to take our shoes off before we entered.
That was really the only worthwhile part of the Treaty Grounds. Still having not eaten an actual meal of the day by 6pm, we inhaled a good portion of pretzels that we still had. We got as far as Whangarei and it was almost too dark to go, but we had seen signs for Whangarei Falls which is the most photographed waterfall in all of New Zealand. We had to search a little bit to find it, but we did, so we made the trek down. By the time we got down there, it was pretty dark, but we could still see it.
Didn’t spend too much time down there, there were some locals and we got the impression that it was a place that high school kids and locals went and got drunk. Back in the town, for the most part, the town was completely dark. No signs were lit, no street lights, very few house lights. It was really eery. Almost like there was no one there and the town had literally been abandoned. We found the Bella Vista, with free internet, and got a room. It was absolutely fantastic. It was brand new and super super clean. Small, but who cares? It had a fridge and a microwave and a pretty bathroom. It was a bit cold, but the heater helped. We even got a baby carton of trim milk for our coffee in the morning. AND prepackaged cookies in the room. Two little packets of two baby cookies. But they were delicious considering how starving we were. We debated on delivery from Hell Pizza versus Takeout for way longer than we should have. They were small-ish, 4 small pieces each, and yet, I ate the whole thing, and could have eaten more. It wasn’t really anything special, we were just so hungry that anything would have been delicious.
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