First day in Paihia
15 juli 2015 - Paihia, Nieuw-Zeeland
Lucky you: one day, two stories :-D
My alarm went off, it was 6.50 am and I had a terrible night. The backpackers where I was staying for the night, was next to a bar so I could hear songs like "irreplaceable" from Beyoncé all night long. I had the cheapest room there was, a dorm room with 12 beds in it. Some of these people went out and came back at 2, 3 and 4 am. I fell asleep at 9, but woke up every hour because someone had to pee, another came back from thr bar and than someone else forgot his credit card. Before everyone was back it was freezing in the room, the window was broken so we couldn't close it. When all the 12 people were laying in bed the temperature in the room increased. From a chilly room to a warm sauna. Most of the people were wasted when they came back, even I could smell the alcohol and my nose is blocked!!!
At 6.50 am my alarm went off and how stupid of me: I went back to sleep! Fortunately I woke up at 7.19 and as fast as I could, I jumped out of my bed. Easier said than done, my left foot was sleeping so I couldn't stand on it. I quickly put my jacket on and got my stuff. You might think I forgot my clothes, no worries, I slept in them because of the cold earlier that night. I raced to the reception, checked out, ran to the Stray office and got into the Stray bus. Two minutes later our driver "Muesli" drove through the city to pick up the others.
We stopped along the way to look at McKenny and Simpson. Who?! Two kauri trees. A kauri (pronounce as Cody) is a coniferous tree and can be found in the north of NZ. It's the largest species of tree in NZ and the Kauri forests are among the most ancient in the world. The antecedents of the kauri appeared during the Jurassic period (between 190 and 135 million years ago). Two brothers, named McKenny and Simpson were planning on buying a farm. This farm still had some ancient kauri trees on its land and the brothers wanted to protect the forest form being cut down. They went up north to raise money and eventually buy the farm. Two big kauri trees, one 800 and the 600 years old are being named after their saviors: McKenny and Simpson. Over 90% of the kauri forest standing before 1000AD was destroyed around 1900 and unfortunately two big kauri trees fell during a tropical storm in the 1970s. The largest kauri tree known to stand is Tane Mahura, what means Lord of the forest in Maori. Its age is unknown but they think the lord of the forest is between 1250 and 2500 years old!
At 1 o'clock the bus arrived in Paihia. The seagulls were flying above my head when I finally got out of the bus. All the passengers got a map and than we were free to go.
Bay Adventurer is a nice wooden hostel/motel with apartments and dorm rooms. The people here are very friendly and guess what: Cinderella is back! Yeah, that's right, but there're some differences between the Park and this place. I'm not working in the housekeeping and I'm also not getting paid. Instead I work two hours a day, from 9 pm to 11 pm for free accommodation. I've to clean the kitchen, but it's not necessary to mob the floor or to change the rubbish bags every day. The same with the toilets and showers. Check the toilet paper and paper towels and just check if the floor is very dirty. If not, it's ok. Two hours to do these things, if I have any time left I'll be checking the pool, but that's about it.
Paihia is beautiful. Unfortunately it was raining when I got here, but the bay of islands still looked pretty. There are some walks I'd like to do. There are a lot of restaurants that have seafood, some bars, shops and the beach is just five minutes from here!!!! They say the weather will get better by tomorrow, so that's what I'm looking forward to! Tomorrow I'll go explore Paihia and move into my staff room.
Mmmm, did I mentioned the sea breeze by the way? It smells like you're on vacation. Oh wait, I am on a vacation! A very very long one and I don't ever want to go back to little frosty froggy land ;-)
Time for a shower now. Thanks for all the great reactions yesterday, that means a lot to me!
My alarm went off, it was 6.50 am and I had a terrible night. The backpackers where I was staying for the night, was next to a bar so I could hear songs like "irreplaceable" from Beyoncé all night long. I had the cheapest room there was, a dorm room with 12 beds in it. Some of these people went out and came back at 2, 3 and 4 am. I fell asleep at 9, but woke up every hour because someone had to pee, another came back from thr bar and than someone else forgot his credit card. Before everyone was back it was freezing in the room, the window was broken so we couldn't close it. When all the 12 people were laying in bed the temperature in the room increased. From a chilly room to a warm sauna. Most of the people were wasted when they came back, even I could smell the alcohol and my nose is blocked!!!
At 6.50 am my alarm went off and how stupid of me: I went back to sleep! Fortunately I woke up at 7.19 and as fast as I could, I jumped out of my bed. Easier said than done, my left foot was sleeping so I couldn't stand on it. I quickly put my jacket on and got my stuff. You might think I forgot my clothes, no worries, I slept in them because of the cold earlier that night. I raced to the reception, checked out, ran to the Stray office and got into the Stray bus. Two minutes later our driver "Muesli" drove through the city to pick up the others.
We stopped along the way to look at McKenny and Simpson. Who?! Two kauri trees. A kauri (pronounce as Cody) is a coniferous tree and can be found in the north of NZ. It's the largest species of tree in NZ and the Kauri forests are among the most ancient in the world. The antecedents of the kauri appeared during the Jurassic period (between 190 and 135 million years ago). Two brothers, named McKenny and Simpson were planning on buying a farm. This farm still had some ancient kauri trees on its land and the brothers wanted to protect the forest form being cut down. They went up north to raise money and eventually buy the farm. Two big kauri trees, one 800 and the 600 years old are being named after their saviors: McKenny and Simpson. Over 90% of the kauri forest standing before 1000AD was destroyed around 1900 and unfortunately two big kauri trees fell during a tropical storm in the 1970s. The largest kauri tree known to stand is Tane Mahura, what means Lord of the forest in Maori. Its age is unknown but they think the lord of the forest is between 1250 and 2500 years old!
At 1 o'clock the bus arrived in Paihia. The seagulls were flying above my head when I finally got out of the bus. All the passengers got a map and than we were free to go.
Bay Adventurer is a nice wooden hostel/motel with apartments and dorm rooms. The people here are very friendly and guess what: Cinderella is back! Yeah, that's right, but there're some differences between the Park and this place. I'm not working in the housekeeping and I'm also not getting paid. Instead I work two hours a day, from 9 pm to 11 pm for free accommodation. I've to clean the kitchen, but it's not necessary to mob the floor or to change the rubbish bags every day. The same with the toilets and showers. Check the toilet paper and paper towels and just check if the floor is very dirty. If not, it's ok. Two hours to do these things, if I have any time left I'll be checking the pool, but that's about it.
Paihia is beautiful. Unfortunately it was raining when I got here, but the bay of islands still looked pretty. There are some walks I'd like to do. There are a lot of restaurants that have seafood, some bars, shops and the beach is just five minutes from here!!!! They say the weather will get better by tomorrow, so that's what I'm looking forward to! Tomorrow I'll go explore Paihia and move into my staff room.
Mmmm, did I mentioned the sea breeze by the way? It smells like you're on vacation. Oh wait, I am on a vacation! A very very long one and I don't ever want to go back to little frosty froggy land ;-)
Time for a shower now. Thanks for all the great reactions yesterday, that means a lot to me!
groetjes
Liefs,
je omaatje