shawn the prawn and other stories

hm, this is quite good as i can pretend i am still on fun adventures! and not back in blenheim already (sigh)
so on the monday after our weekend in the naki we decided to head eastwards - looked in our trusty road atlas and found a route which meant we could go a different way than we had come in. seemed like a good idea.... surely some alarm bells would've been raised when we went past signs saying that it was the "forgotten world highway" but apparently not... first part was sweet as. though we saw no other cars. then we passed a sign saying "please have passports ready. you are entering the republic of whangamomona" what the shit? we drove on. whangamomona is WIERD!!! we saw a total of 5 people when we stopped for a toilet break there... 2 workmen on the side of the road who were not actually working, 1 man in a house bus and his 2 kiddies running round. one of whom was called blaze. uh. drive on! freaky! it was real the hills have eyes stuff so we just continued on our journey - no stopping for us in this "forgotten world" i have never been so happy to see taumaranui in my life!
we continued on to taupo that day. unfortunately it wasn't a fantastic day so the lake was looking somewhat average but we went for a lovely walk and then went and found a mint as camp spot that was... wait for it... FREE!!! right next to the waikato river on huka falls road. i imagine it gets pretty crazy in summer but worth a look if you are passing through that way.

Next to the Waikato

during the night it rained considerably. (the first of the crazy weather) to the point that my in and out of sleep brain thought the river was going to rise and we would awake to find ourselves flying towards the huka falls! thankfully this was not the case :) for our morning in taupo we ventured northwards and went to the waiariki thermal park which is right next to the massive geothermal power pipes - steam rising out of the cracks - impressive! there was bugger all people at the park which suited us fine. we had a foot soak there, saw some impressive geysers, some sleeping (massive) kuni kuni pigs.. but the best bit was they are attempting to recreate a mini pink and white terraces. they have built the terraces and supplied the geyser and hopefuly the silica deposits will, over time, create a similar effect. quite cool. also went to this craters of the moon place which was less impressive but alright all the same. i had a burning desire to go to the prawn park for some reason but we had to hit the road... though on the way out i did get a brochure for it and was so disappointed we didn't go! the brochure was rad - there was this character 'shawn the prawn' who introduced everything - you can go eat prawns (of course), go feed the baby prawns who are in geothermal pools, even hit golf balls into the pools (and shawn says not to worry, this won't hurt the prawns) and the park is sunny 395 days of the year (did you seethat, hes being tricksy!) it looked hilarious! i wanted to go meet shawn! em found it amusing too but no one else has. please let me know if you think i am crazy. or go experience the coolness of the prawn park yourself!

Go Shawn the prawn!

the wacky naki

3 go wild in the wacky naki!

the weekend after northland we picked up lauren in auckland and then made our way southwards to the wacky naki (that is.. after a long procrastination over bought breakfast and coffee in parnell. ooo posh!)
stayed at laurens parents house who were soooo hospitable! we had some amazing meals... steak on friday when we arrived, cooked brekky on sunday, so many snacks of cheese etc.. and a ginormous pork roast on sunday night with lemon meringue pie for dessert!!! rad
on saturday we had some good chilling time at the house and then went out to tea with some of laurens friends. they had been at the races all day so turned up pretty pissed and entertaining! was a great dinner - cheap but really good venison sammies and some bottles of wine helped it along. after dinner we moved on to the classy classy grumpy mole (damn sarcasm doesn't work in writing does it?) one of the guys at dinner was a lion nathan rep so he bought us a round of his product and we proceeded to drink the night away whilst laughing at the late 90s/early 00s music vids - they know their audience thats for sure
got chatting to a bunch of liverpudlians who we kept banging in to during the night and one become rather attached to lauren. did a bit of boogie-ing but our night was cut short by stupid daylight savings! still it was 2am/3am by that stage so off home we went - only to find that laurens parents got home after us! shame!
there seems to be a recurring theme of our trip that sunday turns into a funday - as it should! went out to oakura to check out the surf... not happening - story of our lives!! so went for a walk along the stormy beach and played some impromptu cricket with a lemon and some driftwood! then we filled our hungover tummies with a gigantic plate of nachos and wedges in the local pub. they probably were wondering what had hit them as we spent the best part of 2hrs sitting there cracking up!!
sunday night was the epic meal and then we went to see 'step up' which is a dancy fun movie with a rather good looking lead male :) i recommend if you're after some shameless entertainment.

Lemon + stick = great fun!!

At Oakura Beach

so was our weekend in the wacky naki. i feel it revealed its wackyness to us. what did not reveal itself was the so called 'mountain'. em and i are sceptical as to whether it actually exists or not. hows that for a conspiracy?

so much to say...

We did it! All the way to the top - Cape Reinga

okay so i have lots of days/weeks to catch up on but will put them on here in bits and pieces so its more exciting (and not to boring for me)
NORTHLAND aka paradise! was our first stop after auckland. great to get out of the city. we had a week of fantastic fantastic sunshine and warmth. it was so hot sometimes i was actually losing my mind! went swimming heaps - personal fav at maitai bay on the karekare peninsula. there was no surf anywhere though :(

Maitai Bay aka... heaven! :)

had an epic epic day where we went all the way to the top baby! cape reinga is pretty spectacular and worth the drive for sure. as are the giant sand dunes. next time will have to remember to take a boogie board. nearly ran outta petrol (again) on the way back - thank god for 24hr services - at that petrol station we were also reduced to eating dried 2min noodles coz we wanted to get as far south as poss. they were surprisingly good :)

Te Paki Sand Dunes

also went to visit waipu which was em's hood over the summer. glorious glorious. cool waterfall there too - pirau falls. if it was a bit hotter would def have gone for a swim. as it was i did go in up to my knees, inadvertently that is. whoops!
cruised back down the west coast and went and saw tane mahuta. hes awesome (big kauri tree for those that don't know). plus stopped off at a couple of places that i had been to as a kid but not since (my mum was born in dargaville) kaiwi lakes were just as magic as i remembered, bayly's beach has had soooo much more development since i went there. but that seems to be the way its going eh?

em at the funky fish cafe at bayleys beach - chlax!

Pirau Falls

also went on 2 vehicle ferries - one in russell and one on the hokianga harbour. ooo ps... russell used to be known as "the hellhole of the pacific"and was quite the piratey haven. it is also the home of one of the coolest trees i have ever seen - imagine the things this puppy has seen!


had the most enthusiastic responses to the van in northland - a bunch of maori kids on the back of a ute waved and smiled at us. a hell bro dude saluted us. a wee girl (about 12yrs) ran across a field towards us waving and laughing and in wellsford em got hounded by a (white) bro who then asked for her number and when she refused said "well what about some tits then?" ?!?!?!?!? ahh.... does that work for you often dude??!!? we died laughing!
thats enough to keep you going i hope. more soon. :)