Day 51 - Paihia, Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand

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Wednesday January 8th, 2014. Opoutere to Paihai, Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand

Today was another travelling day - we were heading for the Bay of Islands, well north of Auckland. In fact it was the furthest we have travelled in one day the whole of the trip so far. We had had varying reports of how long it would take us. The YHA girl said 9 hours and the one of the other guests estimated 6 hours. For this reason D decided that we wouldln't take any detours. We would just drive straight there, maybe stopping for a bite to eat and a comfort break.

So off we went. We didn't stop at all. We hit Auckland well outside of rush hour, and in the end it only took us 5 hours. We found the YH and checked in. The room was another cabin with en-suite and was close to the kitchen.

The YH also benefited from off-street parking. We went the 4 Square to get some supplies. We had no time to do anything much so we went for a stroll along the beach which was very pleasant. The weather was gorgeous and there were penty of people in the sea taking a dip. There was a cruise ship in the bay. This was the way we had arrived the last time we were here - so we took the mandatory snap. We reached the wharf and crossed over where there was a circus but nothing much was happening. We passed St Paul's Anglican Church (often referred to as the stone church) on the way back to the YH. The church is the 5th church to be built on this site (dating from 1925). The first
church was built in 1823, the second in 1828, the third in 1856, the fourth in 1874. It is a memorial to Henry and William Williams who were early misionairies. It is made of stone quarried from Pukaru near Kawakawa and timber from a forest near Waikare on the southern shores of the Bay of Islands. It was very pretty indeed.

M got online as we have been without internet access for a few days. while D went to the I-site (with M's credit card) and booked a trip for Friday. It was the same trip that we had done the last time we were here but we had enjoyed it so much we both wanted to do it again. Filet steak for dinner (we are going to miss this when we get back)! We will go exploring tomorrow as we have a free day before our trip.

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