Bidding goodbye to the Lands, our next destination was several hours north at the Endless Summer Backpackers Lodge in Ahipara, at the head of the Ninety-Mile Beach. Endless Summer was another tremendous hostel, in a gorgeous older house right on the beach in Ahipara. Perhaps Endless Summer’s greatest asset was an unexpected one in nearly all hostels: a dishwasher! Shoot, we didn’t even have one of those at our last apartment. I should’ve taken a picture – a dishwasher at a hostel is a rarer sight than a Kiwi bird in the wild (FYI also rare).
Endless Summer Lodge in Ahipara
Becky didn’t feel well that day, uncovering some of the best and worst facets of healthcare in New Zealand. Bad: pharmacies are open ridiculously restrictive hours here as compared to the US: 10-12 AM on weekends. Good: socialized healthcare results in much lower doctor’s visitation fees, on the order of NZ$30. At the current exchange rate of NZ$0.70-US$1, that’s a Crazy Eddie-level insane deal. Fortunately, a little antibiotic had her feeling better quickly, which was good as we had already booked our tickets for our Cape Reinga bus ride the next day.
We had our first night in a real dorm this night, which had Becky a bit bummed. Heretofore we’d been able to sleep in doubles accommodations, which is quite nice, but gets expensive over an extended period in hostels. Becky had never stayed in a dorm before, and so bunking was a bit of a shock to her. But all went well so hopefully we get used to it, as the Magic 8-Ball says there’s almost certainly much more bunking ahead in our future…
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