A final post on post boxes

Today is our last day in NZ, and while we will be generally doing uninteresting stuff today (like driving, packing, cleaning, and sorting ourselves out), I have a somewhat odd post for you. Actually, I have a lot of odd posts for you, post boxes anyways.

In NZ, if you own a single family home, you also have a real mail box. The post is not delivered to your door and you don't have a mail slot on your home. Kiwi's also tend to put some personality into the boxes too. I'm not sure why I find this so interesting, but it is. (Or at least it makes acceptable blog fodder for a slow day like today.)

A typical box. Large, metal, often covered in spider webs.

The wooden box. Also enormous, hand crafted, and often nested in by birds.

The heritage box. A Mauri Marae (meeting house).

The Bach box. Vacation homes seemed to have the most crafty ones.

The Fish Box. Also popular and often found in proximity to the Bach boxes.

The Clever box. Waterproof, bird proof, thrifty and entertaining. 

The bronze pipe box. I actually don't know what this is, maybe part of a boat?

The empty slot box. If all you're going to get is junk mail and bills, why have a box at all? 

The hobbit box. Not ones to miss a truly NZ opportunity, the hobbits have real (small) post boxes too.

The bird box. Not quite a bird house, but close.

Actually a bird house and not a post box. But cute enough for a pic. 

OK, that's it for NZ. Now on to Oz! 

Paihia Dive

Today we're in the Bay of Islands, or BOI for short. It's a huge harbor with two towns on either side

We're staying up on a hilltop in the tourist center of Paihia. The second town, Russell, is much older with a colonial feel. Russell is also the original capital of NZ.

People have been coming to the bay for hundreds of years to harass the sea life. First it was a whaling port, then a commercial fishing port, and now it's all about selling the sea life to the tourists. Whether you are on a dolphin excursion, a charter sport fishing boat, kayaking with the seals, or like us, scuba diving - it's all about the water.

We did two reef dives, skipping the popular wreck dives. The diving was pretty good. We saw lots of sub tropical fish, kelp forests and went through caves and in other interesting rock formations. (Our dive operator was also great, and I posted a review on TA.)

Below are some of the photos from our adventure, though it looks pretty dark, that's only because the strobe on the camera was dead!

Me at the surface.

Our dive group, SP at left.

SP and I

Jewel anemones came in lots of colours.

Porcupine fish.

We had a great time, it was a little chilly, but worth it. If we had more time in the BOI, we would have booked a few more dives.

Tomorrow is our last full day in NZ before SM, B and S head home (and we head to Australia!)

-E

The Flash Bach

It's our last day in the very far north as we're heading down to the bay of islands today. 

I thought I'd end our stay here with another post on the real estate. When I arrived, it was hard to not notice the vast number of empty lots. But the community does have a lot going for it, and though most of the homes below are probably vacation homes, there is a friendly year round population too. 

Starting with the basics, below is your stereotypical NZ bach. Tiny, but enough space to store a boat and fairly popular as a vacation rental.

Decent ones Like the one below, start at about $300k NZD ($240k CAD).

But there is lots of flash around here too. This one is not for sale, but indicative of the nicer houses here.

This one is across the peninsula from us, listed at $860 NZD ($688 CAD).

The terraced looking houses are popular. Here's on just around the corner from us listed at 1.2 mil NZD (IMHO, overpriced).

Another interesting thing is that the local bylaws (covenants) do not seem to have many restrictions on look and feel, or even usage. So you can basically build whatever you like. How about a modern white box?

Or a Spanish villa. (The house below has security cameras, an automated gate and an intercom too.)

Or you can even converted a single car garage into an IKEA style home:

As you've seen over my last few blogs, there isn't that much to do here. Most people who own these homes love this area because they fish. So almost all of the homes have ample parking for boats and their various accessories.

Some houses seem to take boat storage to the extreme. This is actually a home (or at least it is until they develop the rest of the property):

When you're not fishing, there a few other pursuits up here for those looking to burn some money. The Karikari Estates winery is beautiful and has a lovely restaurant.

They are also located across the street from Carrington Resort and golf course. The two establishments are owned by the same company, so you can even drive your golf cart over to the winery after your game.

Also, if you're looking for a place to park your sail boat, there are plenty of options. It's not an area I'd want to stay in long term, but I can certainly see the appeal.

Matai and Waikato Bays

The beautiful twin bays of Matai and Waikato are my the last beach reviews from the very far north.

We spent two afternoons up at the bays. They are nicely sheltered and get a lot less wind than much of the peninsula.

It's a shame I'm not a better photographer, as my pics just don't do them justice. (I think you would need a serious panoramic lens for that.)

Other than being highly photogenic, it's also great for swimming, snorkeling, bird watching, hiking or finding a secluded cove to just hang out in. Also, though there are shells on the beach in some areas, for the most part it's just sand.

There is a small campground nearby, but otherwise the bays are very secluded.

Beach review #4: Matai Bay and Waikato Bay

Rating: 4/5

Best use: Anything that doesn't require a lot of surf. (Bodyboarding possible)

Cool stuff: Apparently it's the best beach-access snorkelling in the far north. There is also pinnacle diving too.

I might have given this beach a 5 if the water wasn't so cold. We went snorkeling once in full wetsuits, but I was freezing in no time. Also, when we went it wasn't low tide, so it wasn't particularly interesting. The bay empties out quite a bit at low tide, so definitely better to snorkel then. 

We've booked a couple of reef dives in the Bay of Islands a few days from now, should be interesting to see if I freeze or not!

-E

Syzygy

Photos of the sun (something is interesting about these).

The lens flare captures the 90% partial eclipse that occurred in northern New Zealand yesterday morning. Only a few parts of Australia witnessed the total eclipse. The giant halo captured in the third pic was visible without a camera for about 15 minutes.

Here on the Karikari peninsula the light dimmed for about an hour or so, the most noticeable change was that the ambient temperature stayed around 10'C until past noon. On most sunny days, it nears 20'C as soon as the sun has been up for a few hours. (I know, all of you in Vancouver just feel so sorry for us right about now.) 

I read in a news article that a total solar eclipse is a type of syzygy, when three celestial bodies line up. (Now don't you wish you could play that one in a scrabble game.) The next total eclipse is in 2015. 

Will stop for (cute baby) quadrupeds

New Zealand may be best know for it's sheep, but at this time of year, it's not the sheep that are catch your attention, it's the super cute lambs.

With so much agriculture on the island, there is almost every type of baby farm animal around. And because I'm a sucker for cute animals, I give you a selection of photographic evidence.  

Adorable and flexible

Twins!

Feeding time.

Pink Ears!

OK, not a quadruped, but still cute.

7 day old colt

Posing for the camera

The laughing sheep and "raj" the neighbors pig are bonus pics today.