Bay of Islands - Finally Arrived (hoorah!)

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Hmmm - one of our favourite sites lost a little of its idyll as the crop dusting plane started up about 7.30am and was making regular runs thereafter. After the shock, we had a really pleasant morning drinking our tea and watching it make its various runs as the sun began to break through the rather grey clouds we started with. The weather has been rather unpredictable - grey one day, blazing hot the next, with rain through one night - but it’s still warm and pleasant and we’re comfortable in short sleeves.

Talking of comfortable, I’m sure everyone’s waiting for an update on the flipflop saga ... I’m proud to announce that they are out of their packet (there’s a surprise to start with!) and they have been worn, although pronounced uncomfortable (no surprise there!). We are, however, persevering ... bless!

So after taking some photos of our inlet with the tide in, we set off on our way to the Bay of Islands (is this place mythical?) Within minutes, we’d seen two parrots, a kingfisher, an eagle, some peacock, a mynah bird sitting on a cow and a numerous pukeko (a blue and black bird with a red beak and silly walk)! We seemed to go for miles passing little more than homesteads and various sets of roadworks (yes, they’ve followed us from Oz), finally passing a sign informing us that we were in the Far North. Wow!

We were so excited, we felt the need to go to the toilet - so we went to Kawakawa to see Hundertwasser’s Loo - he was an Austrian-born artist who regularly changed his name when he thought ‘he’d worn the other one out’. He has works displayed across Europe and these public toilets are the most photographed in NZ (makes you wonder which are the least photographed?!). They are apparently #95 on the top list of things Kiwis want to visit ... and who can blame them - they were absolutely fantastic, reminding me of Gaudi - a truly incredible sight in the middle of a very pedestrian NZ town. (Oh honestly, who thinks these things up?!!)

However, before we managed to leave town, there was also the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway to contend with - and we’d timed it just right to catch the train travelling on the oldest track on the North Island towards the oldest wooden rail bridge in NZ. Actually, it was a lovely gentle journey chatting to Denis who was one of the volunteers and had probably forgotten more than I would ever know about railway history (or want to know for that matter!). When we got back to the station, he treated us to a guided tour to look at their 3 steam trains in various states of repair (one in working order), the welding shed and my favourite the woodwork shop where they were repairing carriages from the early 1900s - the results they were producing were fabulous. A coffee and a cake from the station buffet rounded off our visit nicely.

... And finally! We arrived at Paihia the Gateway to the Bay of Islands. Just looking out into the Bay is fantastic, and we have already booked our boat for tomorrow to have a closer look. We strolled around the town, went into one of the oldest houses to have a look at an art exhibition (awful!) (honestly, really awful!) and discovered it was the library ... and that all libraries in NZ (almost) have free WiFi. Hoorah! I got to flick through some books while John updated the Blog and downloaded our email ...

Eventually we decided we’d better organise where we were going to sleep tonight. Yesterday I’d visited the Department of Conservation and got copies of their DOC Reserve Camping Books, but they had nothing in this area. We went to look at the Haruru Falls which are horseshoe-shaped which is quite rare apparently, so John was told, and whilst admiring them, we noticed some camper vans parked up on a site a little way below. No sooner noticed than chased - we were down there booking into the site ourselves, and have spent the rest of the day enjoying the sight and sounds as the sun sets over the Falls. Ah bliss!

And yet more good news ... after much searching (well, futile pocket patting) the torch has been found ... it was in the bucket in the wardrobe (AKA wine cellar) - but we don’t know how it got there (although one of us has a rough idea!!) ... perhaps its the elves again...

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