First day in Paihia!

Today I woke up at 545 and since my bus was going to be leaving two hours after that I decided to just stay up and get ready for the day. On my way to the bus stop I finally got a shot of the skytower and what a beautiful sight it is!

The bus ride north was beautiful. The hillside was so lush and green and I actually got to watch sunrise over the green hills from the bus which was spectacular! The hillside reminded me a bit of Scotland and Ireland combined with BC which was a nice reminder of Europe and home.

I checked in at noon cause they had my room ready early which was fantastic 😊 Kirsty at the front desk was beyond helpful in helping my plan my next three days here! But sunday and Monday are going to be a surprise!

After making myself a lunch I decided to do a 4 hour hike (who am I!?). Early in the walk i saw an old couple with two dogs playing on the shore. I couldnt help but hope that would somehow be me one day. About an hour into the hike I stumbled upon a group of seven who were doing the kiwi experience (which is likr a tour group across new zealand for people like myself) so I ended up just tagging along with them. After another hour or so of hiking we finally came to Haruru Falls which was a modest water fall 😊 given that I've never seen a waterfall before I was more than impressed and happy. I sat on the edge and felt the water breeze through my feet just before falling off the edge. It was an absolutely incredible feeling! I also brought myself a salad lunch so I had A picnic on the edge of the waterfall (pretty freaking sweet if you ask me!) After a long two hour hike back I checked back into the hostel and confirmed and paid for my activities for the following two days.

After a long (much needed) shower I vegged out on my phone for a while. I booked my bus from paihia to Rotorua for later this week as well as three days accommodation at what should be a pretty amazing hostel I'm rotorua so I'm pretty excited!

Then around 830 I finally went out searching for food. I found a place called thirty30 on trip advisor that was supposed to be cheap and tasty so I went there. It turned out there was a live band playing there so that was a lovely surprise. In their first intermission Kat and Nick came and introduced themselves. Kat was from Ireland and nick from the south island. Both probably late thirties. Super great and friendly. Oh I forgot to mention.... I was pretty much the whole audience for the night. By 11 the boss Tony started joining in with some pretty rad dance moves which obviously I had to join in for. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a good ole two step but the few girls I asked were certainly not interested. I'm pretty certain it's not a thing here so it was slightly awkward.

On my walk back to the hostel I chose to walk along the shoreline. Had some Ed Sheeran playing lightly in my ears with the sound of the tide acting as a steady relaxed heartbeat in the background. What a way to end the night! Anyways it's about midnight now and I just got home. What a great night out and a fantastic first day I'm Paihia!

-Terrence outRead more