The McKinney Kauri and the Road to Paihia

I took the Stray bus up to Paihia, it guarantees me a trip back to Auckland for when Adam arrives in about a month, and I got a free pass on the Explore NZ Dolphin Cruise. We made a stop at the McKinney Kauri tree, the oldest/biggest tree in Northland. It's over 800 years old! The Maori used to chop them down and burn out the tree trunk to build war canoes that could hold up to 200 Maori soldiers at a time. I got to give McKinney a big hug and hope some of the ancient magic would rub off onto my stay up north.

Once I got up to Paihia we took off on the Explore NZ boat. It was an overcast day, but of course once we saw a pod of dolphins it cleared right up! No one was allowed to swim because there was a baby dolphin, and human body temperatures can confuse the young dolphin.

Even though its been cold and raining in NZ for a while now, I have managed a few nice beach days in Paihia. I try to go for an hour every day, get out of the Mousetrap and away from my crisps and cups of tea to enjoy just a bit of why I came all the way down here: sun and relaxation. You can see my Sperry's making a celebrity appearance on the beach at the end of Kings Road, where I live!