Christmas in Paihia

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After disembarking our 12-day cruise, we headed north from Auckland to visit the Bay of Islands area. We settled in to Paihia late afternoon on Christmas Eve and had a nice time exploring the town. Our accommodations at the Anchorage Motel were top notch and the staff was super helpful arranging dinner bookings for us. We spent Christmas day out on the water doing a catamaran sailing adventure on the Carino. We saw a huge pod of dolphins up close and some blue penguins swimming in the water. We took the ferry over to Russell for a great Christmas dinner at the Duke of Marlborough. All in all, an excellent way to spend Christmas down under.

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