To the north! Kawakawa toilet, Paihia, Treaty of Waitangi, Aroha Island, fish & chips

After an adventurous morning of skydiving my lovely friends picked us up and we continued on our adventure.

First on the stop was to visit some famous toilets in Kawakawa, which is just outside of Paihia. These are famous toilets as they were designed by an Austrian artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I have no idea why this was created in a hodunk town in New Zealand, but it was pretty cool regardless. We also saw an Indian restaurant down the street that also serves fish & chips. Honestly, New Zealand. No need to combine food genres like that.

After the toilet break we headed to Paihia to chill on the beach. This was absolutely awesome. While I didn't go in the water or anything, I enjoyed laying on the beach in my sweatshirt and talking with friends. It was relaxing. I could have napped.

The Treaty of Waitangi site was nearby Paihia, and we had a couple anthropology majors in the group, so we stopped at the house. New Zealand doesn't have a constitution, but the Treaty of Waitangi was an important document signed between the Maori and the British in the mid-1800s. Several laws are based around this treaty. However, there is debate over the treaty because the Maori translation and interpretation is different from that of the British - so it is flawed. Since it was the Queen's birthday we couldn't go into the house but we got to walk around and take pictures of the outside. Note: marae grass is always extra green and extra cushy. I love it.


We drove out to Aroha Island, which I'm pretty sure isn't visited often at all. The island is a bird reserve - and we didn't remember that kiwi birds are nocturnal so even though they exist on the island we were unable to see any. Boo. However, we walked the entirety of the island and saw some other birds, and saw kiwi beak holes in the ground near the paths. I learned that male kiwis have shorter beaks and are smaller than female kiwis. Fun fact.

It was getting dark so we decided it was dinnertime! We drove to Manganui for the world-famous (paradoxically in New Zealand) fish and chips. AKA the "best fish & chips shop in New Zealand". And that it was. Well, it was delicious, anyway. I got one piece of fish, one scoop of chips, and a fish cake. It was a glorious meal of fried deliciousness. I should say delicious again. Delicious. After stuffing our faces full of well-deserved fish & chips we left Manganui and drove to Tauranga Bay to stay for the night.


We stayed with a family in Tauranga Bay that some of the people I traveled with knew. We slept in the garage (that's GAH-rage with a Kiwi accent) in cobweb/spider-covered bunks, which made for many laughs with a large hint of fear. They family was so hospitable though - we talked with them for a couple hours and were given a glass of wine, a cup of tea, and a cupcake before going back to the garage to fearfully sleep. Shirley, the mom, reminded many of us of our moms too (not so much mine though) because when we told her our plan to sleep on Ninety Mile beach the next day she told us "no. You're not doing that. That's stupid. I will call your mothers, no, you're not doing that, why would you think of doing that? You're absolutely not doing that". It was nice being around a family cabin environment. It made me miss Family Camp and a cabin I never had, actually.

After attempting to clear spiderwebs from the corners of our bunks and having many laughs, the seven of us finally fell asleep and had completed day two of our Northland adventure.