Bay of Islands

---

28th November - 2nd December 2008 Bay of Islands

We stayed at Haruru Falls on a cracking little campsite, overlooking the waterfalls. There was a swimming pool there as well. Lovely! This was to be our base for exploring the Bay of Islands. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite so cracking. It was pouring down - like being back home in the UK! We drove into Paihia, the main town in the Bay of Islands, which was only just down the road, and did a little shopping. I bought a much needed sarong and Rob bought a not-at-all needed t-shirt. We went back to site and fed a cute little brood of 6 mallard ducklings.

The next day the weather was better so we caught the ferry from Paihia to Russell, which is a beautiful little town. We had a good walk around and then sat in the sunshine outside a bar with a very refreshing beer. We walked to the beach on the other side of Russell, but weren't very impressed as it was a little dirty, so walked back to town. Russell is incredibly quaint and sleepy, unlike its turbulent past when it was supposed to have the very dregs of society there. We wandered around town a bit more. I bought a lovely paua necklace.

When we got back to Paihia we booked to go on a boat trip around the Bay of Islands. There are so many trips to choose from, it's quite mind-boggling. We plumped for a catermeran as we wanted less people, and to be closer to the water than we would be on a motor boat. We definitely picked the right trip for us - the next day the weather was gorgeous and there were only 12 of us on the boat. The lady skipper and her dad were the most brilliantly friendly and informative people and the boat was great. We had possibly our best day yet. We sailed around the islands, watching gannets diving around us and dolphins swimming right up close. We weren't allowed to swim with the dolphins as they had young with them, but that didn't spoil anything. It was a truely magical trip. Rob even spotted a little blue penguin and we watched it up close bobbing around in the sea. Our stop for a bbq lunch was amazing - lunch on board the boat, then off onto the shores of one of the islands where we snorkelled and walked up to a viewpoint which gave possibly one of the most beautiful views we have ever seen. It was incredible looking out across the island and beyond. The best day!

It's true what the locals say - you haven't seen the Bay of Islands until you get out on the water.

---

Photos

Boat trip
Rob on our boat trip around the Bay of Islands

Boat trip
me driving the boat

Beach
The beach where we stopped for lunch on our Bay of Islands trip

Bay of islands boat trip
The view on the way up to the top of the island where we had lunch

Bay of Islands boat trip
The view on the way up to the top of the island where we had lunch

Bay of Islands trip
The view from the top of the island where we had lunch

Boat trip
The view on the way up to the top of the island where we had lunch

Boat trip
The view on the way up to the top of the island where we had lunch

Haruru Falls
Rob at the falls

Haruru Falls
Me at Haruru falls

Haruru Falls
The Maori canoe at Haruru Falls. This is the amazing view we had from the pitch on our campsite.

Haruru Falls
The view of our campsite with Erica enjoying the view from our fantastic pitch.

Haruru Falls
View of the campsite with swimming pool