Day 95: Kiwi Experience!

Up early to join the Kiwi experience bus at 7:30am. The first stop on the route was Paihia, Bay of Islands which was at the top of the north island. The journey was about four hours but on the way we stopped off at a cafe and a waterfall. At the waterfall I got talking to a girl called Marissa and later on I spoke to Ellie and James, all from the UK. We got to Paihia around 1pm and checked into our first Base Hostel which was quite nice and super close to the beach. Marissa, Ellie, James and I shared a room. I didn't expect to have made friends so early on in the trip but it felt nice and a lot less daunting. Our first job was to head to the supermarket as we planned on cooking most our meals in the hostel to keep costs low! The supermarkets here were called Countdown (same as Woolworths in Australia). We had our lunch in the hostel and then headed out on a coastal walk to get familiar with the area. It was a beautiful sunny day but as the sun went down in the evening it was a bit chilly. Had beans on toast for dinner in the hostel, and headed to bed early.