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Published: January 5th 2005
Fireworks at New Year
Graeme watching one of Kenny's fantastic fireworks.After a night in the flat doing washing and re-packing our bag we were up early on Hogmanay to catch the bus to the Bay of Islands. We had been up there in September, not thinking we’d be spending New Year in the same place, but that was where we found a holiday house (in a place called Opua, outside of Paihia, the main town in the Bay) and it’s a lovely place to visit.
Joining us at the house were David and Lindsey, Cat and Rob (whose house we had Christmas at), Alex and Sara (friends of Lindsey’s from the UK, who are here on holiday) and Kenny. Unfortunately Luke had too much work to do to join us (he’s doing a long distance degree as well as working full time), and we missed him a lot, but had a few drinks for him!
It was a unique Hogmanay - neither of us have ever had a barbecue, followed by drinking on the deck and outdoor fireworks at midnight (well, not where you can wear a t-shirt and bare feet!). We had a pretty quiet evening in good company. Kenny had brought the fireworks, and he let them
Water's Edge at Opua
We had the bottom part of the house, the owners lived in the top part. They're totally separate, so we had our own space. The huge deck on one side was great for barbies! off by the sea just after the bells. By the time we went to bed we had consumed 52 bottles of beer, 9 of wine and ½ a bottle of vodka between 9 of us - what a good start to 2005!
New Years Day was glorious, and Graeme and I took advantage of the good weather by walking the 5km track along the coast into Paihia. We treated ourselves to juice and chips in town, then Kenny came and gave us a lift back to the house. We had another barbie for dinner (Alex had taken charge of it on the first night and did a great job), followed by a pretty early night.
The next morning Graeme and I, Alex and Sara, Cat and Kenny were up early to go on a day’s Dolphin Watching Cruise around the Bay of Islands. The weather was good to us once again, so we set off armed with the Factor 30 and our hats and shades for a day on the water. We were lucky enough to spot a pod of dolphins quite early on - they swam right up to the boat, showing off by leaping and jumping
out of the water, and rolling onto their backs to show us their white tummys. It was magical - everyone on the boat was transfixed. We had been hoping to swim with the dolphins, but all the pods we saw that day had young with them. They don’t let you swim with them when they have babies, because it can interfere with the parent/child bonding process. We had lunch on a deserted island (on the beach) and the rest of the day was spent lazily cruising around, looking for dolphins and enjoying the scenery, the weather and the company.
On Tuesday there were plans to go quad biking, but our budget couldn’t quite stretch that far. Instead, Graeme, Kenny and I drove an hour north to Doubtless Bay, to visit Luke’s Uncle Clive and his family. We had visited them on Christmas morning, and that afternoon they had left Auckland to go to their summer house up north. We joined them for a picnic lunch at stunning Matai Bay (two horseshoe coves back to back, with clear water and white sand). It was a hot day and I managed to get my ankles burnt after going paddling in the
The family of dolphins
They were mesmerising to watch, they played for about half an hour for our boat. sea then forgetting to reapply the sunscreen - oops!
Tuesday we cleaned up the house and set off for Auckland. Luke had been suffering from cabin fever at home with his essays, so we joined him and Kenny for a fantastic dinner before coming home and falling in to bed - back to work and reality this morning!
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