A Ship Out of Its Harbor: "Now I'm free... free fallin!" -Tom Petty

Kerikeri has continued to be the tropical paradise that I described in my last post. Work has been good still for me at Bed of Roses (I now garden as well as clean), but I think I'm the only one. Of all of our friends at the backpackers, hardly anyone is getting work so sadly we are moving in a few days. Our plan is to head to Queenstown with our new friends Jami and Jesse and hope to get full time jobs for the next few months and save up enough moolah to spend the last 3 or 4 weeks traveling before we head home.

Like I said, I'm sad to leave this gorgeous part of the county, but I feel like in the 3 weeks that we have spent here, we have seen so much. This area of NZ is famous for it's Maori history and it's also one of the first English settlements so it has some neat historical buildings. We recently spent one sunny day checking these out. You can read more about the history by clicking here.

Huge gum tree

2 very noisy parrots

Kerikeri wishing well

The Stone Store, and old trading post built 1832-36

Inside the stone store

St. James Church, built 1823

Pukeko (check out those feet!)

On yet another gloriously sunny day, Jami, Jesse, Brad an I decided to rent a car for the day and head to the beach. We drove about 45 minutes to a place called Taupo Bay where we spent a few hours enjoying the white sand and turquoise waters. We figured we were already about halfway to Cape Reinga, the furthest point north in NZ and a place of Maori spiritual significance, so we headed up to check that out. We got there right around sunset and then headed back after a great, long day.

Jesse's handmade lounger

View from Cape Reinga of Three Kings Islands

Would have killed to have seen this... no such luck :(

Note our feet- Brad may or may not have set our shoes in a parking lot and driven off.

Lighthouse on the northernmost tip of NZ

One of the main attractions in Kerikeri is Rainbow falls. Rumor had it that you could climb up behind the falls, so we ventured out on the long swim and climbed up behind. It was so cool, but I couldn't have taken my camera so you'll have to use your imagination (or come here!). Jami got a few shots from the shore.

Me, Brad, Jesse, Tom and Tommy behind the falls

This guy got into our room one night (shudder)

Another great day followed by an amazing sunset

My final notable event of Kerikeri... skydiving!!! I booked one on a groupon-like site for $170 down from $325 and crossed my fingers that they didn't discount any safety features :) Jami decided to tag along at the last minute and was so glad she did. We both absolutely loved it! The plane that took us up was this little tin can that we all squished into, and we rode about 15 minutes up with gorgeous views of the Bay of Islands. At 12,000 feet my instructor Ryan buckled me in and nudged me towards the door. I sat there with my feet handing out, took one look down, and had to close my eyes and trust him to do the rest. My biggest fear was that the time before you were weightless would be long and I would hate it, but it was about a 2 second transition before I felt him tap my arm which meant time to uncross my arms and enjoy the ride. It was an amazing 45 second free fall with more amazing views all the way up to Cape Reinga, followed by about 3 minutes of falling with the parachute and trying some steering and turns. I would recommend skydiving to anyone! It was even better than I could have imagined.