Bay of Islands

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15th May 2009

We began touring New Zealand the way it is meant to be seen today, after picking up the campervan. Equipped with a fan heater and a bed, we left Auckland for the Bay of Islands. Elaine, a little unsure of the roads, navigated, whilst Alex took the wheel. It took us around 4 hours to get there and after finding a campsite for the night and stocking up on food, the day was pretty much over, leaving us to enjoy our first nights camping.


16th May 2009

What better way to start a visit to a country than learning its history? So today we explored the Meeting House where the agreement between the Maori People and the British Government was signed. The Meeting House was beautifully carved with intricately designed figures on the walls. After this we made our way via ferry to Russell, the original capital of New Zealand, where we had a good hot chocolate and climbed a hill for great views of the bay.


17th May 2009

Today we decided to do a boat tour of the bay that included dolphin spotting. The tour started by taking us to the mouth of the bay to see the famous hole in the rock, formed by sea and wind over thousands of years. We were then taken to an uninhabited island that we decided to explore. This was beautiful and a short walk up to the top of a hill gave us more wonderful views of the beaches on the island. The water by the pier where the boat dropped us off and picked us up had crystal clear water, it felt like paradise. When the boat picked us up it was time to go dolphin watching. We were in luck and saw several dolphins that came right up to the side of the boat. The rest of the day was spent traveling south towards Auckland and we stopped off just outside at a place called Omoru to camp for the night.

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Comments

[heather]

Cyril is cool!