Keeping it fairly real

Bay of Islands stole my heart on Valentine’s day . I hooked up with two lovely ladies also travelling
alone. Vaishali, 31, from London. Marieke, 23, from the Netherlands. We hired (aka rented) a white
Toyota Corona for the next three weeks. I’m lucky to have met two other women on the same travel
schedule and similar travel approaches – plan the bare minimum and the rest with figure itself out –
and that I get on with so well. I can already tell we’ll be lifelong friends.

Monday, February 13. We pick up the car and after a series of wrong turns and two hours we finally
make it out of Auckland and head to Northland. The drive is beautiful. After we exhaust the initial
get-to-know-you conversations and the views are no longer enough to keep our complete attention
we take an inventory of the music situation. Radio – rare reception. Ipods? No portable speakers and
no car stereo input method. The only option is CD. Vaishali has one, a Michael Buble bonus CD with
about six songs, two or three of which are Christmas songs. We have to do something about this!
New Zealand weather is notorious for changing in an instant. Sun. Rain. Sun. Rain. Hot. Windy.
Cold. A rainbow! This must mean we’ll have good fortune on our journey. Green hillside after green
hillside – covered in trees, cows, sheep.

We arrive in Paihai and look for accommodations. We end up at The Mouse Trap, a homey hostel
that resembles a B&B more than a dorm for budget conscious travellers. It’s my first time staying in
a dorm-style hostel room. Also my first time paying for accommodation on this trip (night #20). We
luck out and get a seven bed dorm all to ourselves.

Tuesday, February 14. Valentine’s day. After a good sleep we set about exploring the Bay of Islands
via sailboat with 15 other passengers from around the world. The Ghungi II. As we sail we come
across small penguins swimming. They look almost like ducks sitting atop the water until you get up
close. We arrive at out lunch spot and I kayak to shore. We climb up a steep hill in our bare feet –
layers of soft grass up to three feet in depth. The view from the top is breath taking. Deep emerald
green hilly unpopulated islands surrounded by pretty aquamarine water. We sit for a while and take
it in. I feel so lucky to be here, to experience this amazing place, to have sunny skies in a rain region,
to be sitting alongside two women I can call friends despite just meeting just days ago. How can I
ensure a continued appreciation for my experiences? To not take them for granted?

After a quick snorkel we have lunch and head back to Paihai. On the way we see a hammerhead
shark. Now we’re back in the car headed back to Auckland. We’re planning to spend the night
there because Vaishali has an interview in the morning. Our host is a guy from San Diego I met the
previous weekend. He started the animation studio my previous host works for. Then we’re headed
off to the Coromandel peninsula. As much as I look forward to “hot water beach” I could have easily
spent at least a week in the Bay of Islands. I’m sure I’ll feel the same about each destination in New
Zealand. I guess this is why most travellers I come across (none American btw) spend months here
instead of just weeks.

If Valentine’s Day is truly a celebration of love then I can say this was one of the best. A true
celebration of the love of life. I love life.