Mai Kind of Bay

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It was great to have company for dinner that night but it was even more exciting to me that they were wanting to continue traveling with me. They decided that, even though I was wanting to go to a place even further up north that they had already been, they would still continue to travel with me.

The place I wanted to go was suggested to me by two separate and unrelated parties at completely separate times. The first time I heard about it was from Megan and Jason, the people who sold me the car. The second was from a family that attended the CS Church in Whangarei. They both strongly urged me to go see Maitai Bay up on the Kerikeri Peninsula. So we rolled out of Russel and through Paihia and up to a DOC campsite with Oli DJing the whole way up there. He found some really interesting stuff on my iPod that I never even knew I had.

When we got there I saw almost immediately why this place came so highly recommended to me and why Oli and Cath were so eager to return. It was gorgeous! Maitai Bay was a perfect horseshoe bay with rocky heads that protected the beach from the harsh attitude of the sea while still allowing great waves to roll through. It wasn't anything worth surfing but Oli and I had a blast body boarding all afternoon. After we got tired of swimming I got my kite out and flew it around for the third time ever … and the wind was perfect. Both Oli and Cath got a chance to learn (with some hiccups, but they got the hang of it eventually).

We ended up spending two nights there because it was so incredible. We just soaked up all that we could of this beautiful place. I think that this might be my favorite place in New Zealand, so far at least. We lounged around, threw the Frisbee, got a little sun, flew the kite again, hunted for shellfish, which we cooked for one hell of a good camp dinner after exploring the heads and hills surrounding the bays. We ended out last night there by watching the sunset on Kerikeri beach which was the finest, whitest sand I've ever felt in my life. It was a pretty great place and I was grateful to have some fun company.

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Photos

Me @ Maitai Bay
it took me a couple of tries to get this one.

Hydie in my Hands
My third time flying my new kite and it was perfect!

Excursion 1
We took a little walk to the top of a scenic lookout and this was the other beach at the beginning of our journey.

Excursion 2
Kat sitting looking out into the gorgeous water.

Excursion 3
The backside of the lookout.

Kerikeri Sunset
The whitest, finest sand I've ever seen.