We woke up early so that we could walk the 45 minutes to the car rental place to pick up our car at 8:00am. When we got there, we finally made the decision to not purchase the optional insurance (saving us $200) and had to pre-pay a $2000 bond in case anything happened to the car. We had gone back and forth about the insurance, but in the end, I was sure that nothing would happen and it would be a waste of money. The guy had told us that we would be getting a manual car so I was very surprised when they gave us an automatic. That meant that Alyssa could drive too (she can not drive stick shift). We got in to the car and I tried to get used to driving on the right side of the car. It was bizarre- everything was backwards! I went to use the turn signal and turned on the windshield wipers instead since the turn signal was now on the right. The drive back to the hostel was a good practice course for me although Alyssa was in a panic the entire time.
We had breakfast (no longer included in hostels since we got to NZ, so sad!) of yogurt, fruit and granola, packed our bags and loaded up the car. I really like having the car so that we can store some things in it and not have to carry everything everywhere we go. We had gotten a GPS to make things easier, so we plugged in the coordinates for our next hostel and hit the road. It was a 3 1/2 our drive to the "Bay of Islands". The freeway was pretty easy to navigate and we decided to avoid the toll road and ended up driving through the country. It was nice that there was very little traffic so I could get used to guiding the car with my right, front tire along the center line instead of the left. Alyssa was apparently freaked out the entire time, but I felt relaxed and very comfortable. The only issue we had was when the road turned into a one lane but two way bridge and we couldn't figure out whose turn it was. It actually turned out to be pretty funny.
We arrived in Paihia at 1:30pm and checked into "Seabeds Hostel". It clearly used to be a motel as even our dorm beds were in different bedrooms. It had an amazing upstairs dining room and kitchen which created a great atmosphere with a view overlooking the ocean.
We wanted to rent paddle boards and book a boat tour for the next day, so we walked into town to check things out. They did rent paddle boards but in the end, we decided there really wasn't anything to paddle to so we'd rather try it somewhere else. We looked at the different boat options at the travel agency and decided we wanted to do the full day sail boat trip. We thought it was really reasonably priced at $95. Since we were in town, we decided to grab lunch. Apparently New Zealand is known for their fish and chips so we figured we had to try it. We were a little annoyed because they charged extra for any sauce including ketchup! They said it was because their fish was so cheap...at $9, seriously? It was good but probably the last one we have for a while.
The guy at the paddle board rental shop was from the US and had recommended a few beaches to us that were up north, so we decided to drive to one of those and just have a beach afternoon. As we we driving, I looked up the beach on the GPS and found that it was over an hour away. Being that it was already past 4:00pm, we decided it was too late in the day to venture that far away, so we headed back to the hostel and just walked to the beach right in front of our place. It was very beautiful and peaceful and we sat for a few hours just reading.
One of the girls staying at our hostel had given us the insiders tip that you could get free wifi in front of the public library, so we decided to head down there and get a few things done. I thought it was hilarious how many people were sitting on the lawn of the closed library using the internet, but it really makes sense since they charge you so much for it.
We scheduled our flight from New Zealand the Australia for the next week and looked up a few hostels for the coming days. Then we headed to the grocery store to get some vegetables and hummus for a light dinner. We spent the evening hanging out in the upstairs living room reading and chatting with the other people at the hostel. I stayed up to finish my book and was the last person to head down to bed...at 10:00pm. Everyone else was already asleep when I went into the bedroom. Needless to say, New Zealand is not a party destination, lol.
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