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Published: April 11th 2009
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Gunga 2
Our sailing day in Bay of Islands 11th April
I had a lovely birthday . I got to speak to Dan and Jonathan and Sophie and the children, Mani sang Happy birthday to me and Cassie gave me a smile- aahh! We went out for a lovely meal at a restaurant called Vinyl in Whangerei, recommended by the campsite proprietor and a good choice it was too.
We stayed near Paihia in the Bay of Islands for 3 nights near the Huhu falls in a fabulous campsite that was almost empty. We went to Waitanga which is the place where the Treaty between the British and the Maori was signed in 1842. They have restored the governor’s house where it took place and we spent some time there learning about the situation which made this treaty possible to the benefit of both the English and the Maori.
We took a day trip on a sailing ship called Gunga 2, following a recommendation from the wine tasting tour in Nelson. Thank you Ian! It was such a good day - the owner of the boat is a Canadian and spends his time taking trips out from here in summer and from Fiji in winter. We could swim, snorkel or
Bay of islands - Gunga 2
A curious bottlenosed dolphin kayak off the boat and had a great cruise around the beautiful Bay of Islands. The weather was glorious and we saw some little blue penguins , and some bottle-nosed dolphins who came up to have a look at us, as Mike, the skipper, explained that it isn’t approved to dolphin -chase.
The next trip was up to Cape Rienga, the northern most point of North Island. It is possible to drive up there but you aren’t allowed to take rental vehicles onto the 90 mile beach- so half the fun is gone. So we went on a coach tour and raced up the Beach as the tide was coming in. Then the fun of sand surfing down the dunes on surfboards- I’ll let you guess which one of us was up for that! Cape Rienga is where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. The Maori spirits are said to leave the earth here to fly off to Hawaiki, thenext world.
We stopped in the ancient Kauri forest reclamation area on the way back. These giant trees have been preserved in the earth and are carbon dated to be up to 45,000
Cape Rienga
The most northerly point of NI years old, but are still perfectly useable wood. We visited the biggest living Kauri tree - Tane Mahuta, the god of the forest, a lovely 2,000 year old tree. There is also a very well set out museum near Dargaville on the history of the pioneers and Kauri working. All the models in the set pieces are modelled on local people, which is a rather interesting touch.
Now comes the sad part - we had to give Hector back! It was hard parting with him; he’d played such a part in our adventure. The people at Kea campers were very impressed to see we’d done 7,250 ks in him. The only damage we had to own up to was that we had broken all the wine glasses provided, 3 to be exact. But we found that tumblers are just as efficient anyway! We had few complaints about Hector, David bumped his head more than a few times and I had a cold shower by accident whilst sitting on the loo in my PJs one night and accidentally pulling the tap on, I only did it the once!!!
After our sad parting we went to stay in a rather grand B&B
sand surfing
David eating a sandwich! in North Shore, Auckland for 3 nights. It is in a large old villa full of far eastern furniture - a far cry from our camping! Our room was the China Blue suite, complete with 4 poster bed - that was bliss. The owners were very kind and took us for a harbour cruise one afternoon, complete with a glass of wine.
Auckland is much more of a city than we have seen since coming here - real traffic and loads of tall buildings. They have a Sky Tower here and guess what - they allow people to jump from it - have you guessed what’s coming next? I think he’s in his 2nd childhood; it may have something to do with the fact that Dan did it when he was here a couple of years ago! David was like a dog with 2 tails when they gave him another jump for free, he doesn’t think Dan did it twice!
Then at last it was time to say goodbye to NZ altogether. It rained on the way to the airport - so I think NZ was sad to see us go! We have LOVED this country - I’ve even
Tane Mahuta
The God of the forest - 2000 year old Kauri tree forgiven the North Island for not being the South Island. We would love to come back but we have a million photos and memories to digest for now.
For now we fly to the South Seas to the Cook Islands, Roratonga to be precise. We fly out on Tuesday 7th April at 6-.30pm and arrive at 1.00am on Tuesday 7th April - so we have Tuesday all over again - in Paradise!
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Jean
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Kia Ora
Well - all good things come to an end....... Hope Rarotonga lives up to expectations and the weather is kind to you. Looking forward to hearing from you again. Jeannie xxx