Bay of Islands

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Bay of Islands / Northlands

After settling in to Cooks Lookout Motel which overlooks the river just outside Paihia, we chatted to the owners Norm and Shelagh to book some activities for the next couple of days. Followed their advice for supper and were rewarded with some great steaks – if you ever come here, do go to Lips, Reef and Beef.

Monday 10th January

We went on a boat trip, taking a small shuttle boat from Paihia via Russell to one of the many little islands in the bay. We walked up the hill to a lookout. Lots of sheep and it looks just like Wales –apart from the blue sky and sunshine. We then had a one hour trip on an fast rib boat out to the ‘Hole in the Rock’ – great fun bouncing off the swell and getting washed in salt water.

We stopped off at the small town of Russell on way back. This was the first European settlement in NZ. Walked up to Flagstaff Hill where there is a monument where the flagstaff was raised by the first settlers and then was cut down numerous times by the Maoris. They tried encasing it in metal but that still did not work. Eventually the Maoris made a flag pole themselves and erected it which has stayed.

We then hopped on the passenger ferry back to Paihia and went for drive. We decided not to pay $25 to visit a field where the treaty with the Maoris was signed but went to a viewpoint on Mount Bledisloe and then to the Haruru Falls.

Having eaten out for over two weeks we tried our hand at cooking at home this evening which was rather problematic. Whilst Peter did ‘important things’ on the computer Julia tried to get to grips with an electric fry pan which seemed to be only on high or off ( Peter asking if the onions were burning was met with stony silence ) so transferred everything to the frying pan but this was so warped it only made minimal contact with the cooker and so did not heat up at all. Eventually transferred to a 3rd saucepan and managed to create a passable pasta sauce which we enjoyed on the patio overlooking the sea. Peter not so keen on the devastation awaiting him when he went to wash up.

Tuesday 11th January

A 7:30 pickup from the hotel for a full day trip to the north end of the island via 90 Mile Beach. The beech used to be the main road to the north end of the country but is now mostly used by coach tours and fishermen. The beach got its name because when cattle were first driven along its length it took three days so the settlers estimated that it must be 90 miles long. When it was actually measured much later it turned out to be only 60 miles long so the cattle must have had unusually short legs.

At the top end of the beach there are massive sand dunes over 50metres high where we tried dune surfing – great fun if you don’t mind the whip lash when you hit the river bed at the bottom – a couple of ibruprofen needed the next morning.

After walking to Cape Reinga lighthouse we stopped off at a forest which is growing on top of an ancient Kauri forest. The area used to be swampy and the old trees were preserved underground. They are now digging out timber that is over 100,000 years old. A hundred years ago there was big business here digging out deposits of tree gum which was exported all over the world to be used as varnish.

In the evening we ventured into the backpacker area of the town – decided to give the ‘bad taste hats and karaoke’ disco a miss and had a couple of beers and massive burgers next door.

Wednesday 12th January

Early start as we need to drive a long way south to the Coromandel Peninsula. We went via the west coast road to see the last remaining Kauri trees. Most of these trees were cut down for timber – they grow very straight with few knots. There are now less than 1% of the forests left.
After that it was a long slow drive back through Auckland in the middle of the rush hour – worse than the M25!

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Comments

[Williams]

Been there, done that!
Seeing you sliding down the dunes brought it all back to us. The worse part was walking back up to do it again. Enjoy Coromandel.