The plan to hire a car to drive around the Bay of Islands didn’t happen at all due to the general lack of cars to hire anywhere within the Auckland region so we just upgraded our Stray passes and caught the orange bus instead. We left Auckland at around 8am last Thursday for the drive up to Paihia, this included a toilet break/supermarket stop in the town of Warkworth, named after the fortified town in our fine county of Northumberland. It’s not similar in any way to the original town, the obvious and notable lack of a castle is a major aspect of this but in terms of size it’s probably around the same and it’s quite near the coast so there’s something else they have in common. I even brought my Northumberland flag ready to stake a claim for the town in the name of His Grace the Duke of Northumberland but I think I’ll let the Kiwis keep a hold of their Warkworth for now.
On the way to Paihia we drove through the gravelled country roads of Northland, stopped off again for a brief snorkel and beach visit before being shown some hills and fields apparently used as the setting for the battle scenes of the second Lord of the Rings film. A few minutes from these battle weary hills there was a carving of Gandalf made out of a tree, which was a gift from the LOTR custume department to the farmer who owns the fields and allowed them to use his outer buildings as workshops.
After a good few hours we got to Paihia (a combination of Maori and English to mean ‘good here’) via a slight detour through Waitangi (the place where the Treaty was signed to create New Zealand as a British colony). Paihia is essesntially a beach/harbour type village with more hotels/hostels/apartments than people… and even sheep. After checking into the hostel we went to the bar for a drink or two and a barbeque (so good that it rhymed). Friday morning was an early start as we got a bus towards Cape Reinga via a brief forest walk and a drive past a Maori Pa (fortified hill). Cape Reinga itself was amazing, it’s right on the tip of the North Island and, according to Maori legend, is where people’s souls travel up to take one last look back towards family and friends before departing on to the next stage. There’s a lighthouse there too and a signpost which tells you how many thousands of miles it is to Sydney and London, although there used to be more but they seem to have gone missing. Back in the bus, we made our way to some sand dunes for a little bit of sandboarding. This was the first time I’d ever sandboarded (if that’s the correct term) but it was so much fun! I’d like to have done it more than once but the climb up the hill was far too exhausting, especially in the heat. I attempted to get as much sand out of parts of my body I really didn’t expect sand to be able to reach before it was back to the bus for a drive down Ninety Mile Beach. First notable thing to say about the beach is that it’s not ninety miles long, it’s a mere 64 or something like that, but I do at least admire the Kiwi attempt to use a proper measurement system. We spotted some wild horses strolling around the beach but they wouldn’t cooperate with attempts to take their photograph as they ran as soon as the bus door opened. The drive down the beach was a long one before we turned off somewhere to get some fish and chips. It was quite a continental affair at the table as we got talking to Dutch, Belgian and Swiss girls with the topic of conversation rapidly turning towards our wonderful, mutual neighbours, the French. I guess that proved us Brits do have something in common with (most of) our European cousins. We got back to the hostel some time around 7pm for a quick drink in the bar and a wander along the beach.
I met up with a few of the people from the bus later on (another international affair, this time featuring Canadians and an Israeli) as we went in search of glow worms which allegedly hang round in some bushes somewhere according to our driver. Armed with torches and cynicism, we marched blindly into the woodland – led by a Dutch girl (the Dutch make good navigators) and a fellow Briton (token British person to assume all credit and control for someone elses discovery) but our search was in vain. I think we did spot a worm type thing hanging from a tree but it didn’t glow and it probably wasn’t even a worm, we all felt cheated and let down so we called it a night and made our way back to the hostel.
Saturday morning and afternoon were quiet ones for me and Holly as we’d booked up on an evening/overnight cruise but we met up with the girls from our bus for an hour or so before they left to go back to Auckland. We walked over to the harbour at around 4:45pm to board the ‘Rock’ boat, a converted car ferry. I think there were around 30 people on the cruise, a variety of ages and nationalities, I think we were the only Brits on board with Germany, America and France providing the majority of passengers. We dumped our stuff in our cabin before heading back down for the usual security brief and summary of what would be happening. Everyone started to mingle and talk to each other before we were called over for a bit of fishing at the end of the boat with the bait of choice being mullet (at least now I can say I was fishing with a mullet). Holly managed to catch seven fish (tiny, tiny fish, probably can’t even class most of them as fish) whereas I managed to haul in one solitary poor little fish, which I had to kiss (beggars can’t be choosers). Luckily our Finnish friends and crew were more successful as they added some sizeable catches to the barbeque.
After we ate and drank a little bit, it was time for some night kayaking – another first for me. Some brief instruction before we were cast off the boat and followed Julian and Sante around the islands in the dark. The night was amazing though, the stars were really low and bright and the plankton acted as reflectors giving more light to our movements in the water. I think we were out for about 20 minutes or so before navigating back to the boat. I took my life jacket off and changed into my swim shorts as I followed the lead of another guy by having a night swim and the water was probably the perfect temperature for a swim but my lack of fitness meant I was only in the water for about ten minutes. The rest of the evening was spent chilling out and talking with the other people on the boat. In the morning we had breakfast and a little while later it was into the wet suits and time for snorkelling. I didn’t see anything too exciting but the guys ahead saw a little stingray, which made Holly jealous! It was soon back on the boat before a trip to an island (the name of which escapes me) but it was the very first place where Captain Cook landed in New Zealand so it was quite historical and so we had a wander round there for a little while before again heading back to the boat. The rest of the cruise was spent heading back to port, that took a couple of hours so it was enough time to get our stuff together and say the goodbyes.
Once back in Paihia, it was basically time for some more chilling out – as if we hadn’t done enough already! On Monday we went over to Waitangi (the birthplace of New Zealand) to see where they signed the Treaty and to have a look at some Maori carvings, it’s probably as historical as New Zealand gets (in terms of European origins anyway). After that, it was back on to the bus in the afternoon for the trip down to Auckland for a couple of days to have some post Bay of Islands relaxing and whatever else is in Auckland.
Hopefully I’ve remembered everything or at least most of the things we did but there’s some exciting things to come in the next week or so.
No Comments