That’s two in Māori by the way – not that I can count in Māori, I just looked it up.
Today we were having a day off from school – woohoo. We were slightly ahead of where we should be, so as a reward we were off on a boat trip around the Bay of Islands. Luckily, Lara hooked us up with a locals discount through an old work colleague, so we managed to save a few quid.
We jumped on board Captain Adam’s boat at 10am and after a brief stop in Russell (more on that brilliantly named town later!) we headed off to our first destination for the day, Roberton Island. Before landing on the beach, the boat passed by Cook’s Cove. This beach is the very first place that Captain Cook landed at when he “discovered” New Zealand in 1769. He anchored the Endeavour in this sheltered cove, and almost immediately had a fight with the native Māori tribe. The fight involved a flurry of cannon fire from the ship which quickly ended any further conflict. After the battle, Cook’s medic was sent to help with any wounds suffered by the natives thus starting a more trustful relationship. There is one guest house on this beach, and apparently on display inside is a cannonball originating from the Endeavour which was dug up recently in the garden. Not that I’ll ever get to see it, as each night’s stay there will cost you upwards of £2,500!
The boat landed in Twin Lagoons Bay – I suspect the sharpest among you may be able to guess the reason for this name! The pair of stunning lagoons are the most photographed area in the whole Bay of Islands, and it’s easy to see why. I mean this is literally paradise, apart from the regular boatloads of gawping tourists (us included of course) that pull up here. You can take the quick 10 minute trail to the lookout at the top of the island for an incredible 360 degree panoramic view from the rugged cliffs of the west to the picture perfect island paradise in the east.
I would have quite happily stayed put all day on this beach, but we had paid for a boat ride, so a boat ride we would have! Next on the agenda was a trip out to the famous Hole In The Rock. Piercy Island (to give it its correct name) is culturally extremely important to the Māori, as well as being significant in conservation terms as it is completely pristine with no evidence of any introduced animals. Despite this though, it is instead famous because there is a bloody big hole in it. A sea arch to be precise, formed by the action of the waves over millions of years, but a bloody big hole nonetheless. I don’t know why, but people are always fascinated by big holes in cliffs. Durdle Door, Azure Window, La Portada, Honopu Arch – the list goes on. Essentially they are visually very beautiful places, hence the attraction I guess.
What made the trip all the more perfect for me though wasn’t the big hole, it was the fact that we saw several small blue penguins on the boat ride there, and just as we turned around to head back, we also spotted a masssive 4 meter wide manta ray gliding around majestically near the boat. This was a pretty special event, even Captain Adam was speechless. He said that this was the first one spotted in the area for two years, so I guess we just lucked out. The photos are crap, but I guess you just had to be there!
Waewaetorea Island was our next stop, for a spot of paddle boarding and snorkelling. We couldn’t wait to get in the water, it had looked so perfect all day, and we weren’t disappointed. It was crystal clear, and I amused myself diving for shells for well over an hour while Kate and the kids had a go on the SUP boards. The crew even cracked open a few sea urchins for people to sample before we had to reluctantly get back on the boat. The journey back to Paihia had one more surprise for us yet though.
As we cruised back through the islands, a pod of curious bottlenose dolphins appeared and swam right up to the boat before disappearing out of sight again a few minutes later. All in all, a pretty successful boat trip I’d say. The only thing that could have topped that off was if a whale or two had decided to breach the water, but I guess you can’t have everything eh!
We finished our day by heading to Phat House Brewery on the outskirts of Paihia for a few home cooked pizzas and a game of two of Foozeball over a pint of their delicious Cucumber and Hibiscus Sour. A perfect end to a perfect day.
The northern areas of New Zealand are famous for their huge and sturdy native Kauri trees. These impressive trees rival the giant sequoia in terms of girth and trunk mass, and are thought to have reached up to 8 metres in diameter in centuries past when the mighty Kauri forests covered the Northland. Today there are only a few thousand mature Kauri left, due to centuries of logging and the deadly Kauri dieback disease. You now have to wipe and disinfect your feet at special stations, and walk strictly on raised boardwalks in a concerted effort to prevent the spread of the disease.
We took a drive all the way over to the west coast to visit Waipoua Forest, home to two of the biggest living examples.
Tāne Mahuta translates as “Lord of the forest”, and it’s easy to see how this incredible tree earned this name. It is thought to be anywhere between 1500 and 2500 years old, and stands over 50 metres tall. The impressive part is the sheer girth of its trunk. These trees don’t taper, their trunks are cylindrical. At a width of around 4.4 metres all the way from the base to it’s branches, the volume of this guy’s trunk is thought to be over 250 cubic metres. It’s pretty awe inspiring to think that this tree could have been a sapling, or even a 500 year old tree when Jesus was busy turning water into wine.
The other famous resident of this ancient forest is Te Matua Ngahere. Although not quite as tall or voluminous as his famous brother, the “Father of the forest” is broader at a width of 5.2 metres, and therefore probably a fair bit older. Best estimates put this guy at anywhere between two and three thousand years old. Some people actually report being moved to tears when stood in the majestic presence of these ancient beings. Now I’m not quite at that stage. They are incredible, and I do find them fascinating, but they don’t make me want to whip out the Kleenex. I do recommend going to see them if you get the chance though, who knows how much longer they’ll be around.
On the way home we stopped for an ice cream in the town of Opononi. This town would probably not be particularly memorable were it not for the legend of Opo the friendly dolphin who captured the hearts of the nation during the summers of 1955 and 1956. For some reason this real-life Flipper chose to hang out in this bay and entertain the locals and holiday makers by playing games with them, and swimming with the local children. Having become a national treasure she was unfortunately found dead in a rock crevice in March 1956. She was buried with full ceremonial honours in the town’s War Memorial Hall and is still celebrated to this day (luckily for the otherwise uninspiring town of Opononi).
We had just one more day to spend in the Bay of Islands, and where better to spend it than the majestically (!) named town of Russell. This sleepy olde worlde town was actually the very first capital of New Zealand, and after building its reputation as a trading destination quickly fell into disrepute due to the amount of drinking establishments it contained. It had soon earned itself the nickname of “The Hell Hole of the Pacific”. Today, however, it is a perfectly quaint and well preserved town full of suave eateries and upmarket boutiques. The small Russell Museum contains some interesting local artifacts, and a lot of information on the town’s rich history.
Having explored the old town and taken many pictures with the word Russell in (much to the annoyance of my wife), we decided to make the 20 minute walk over the hill to the other side of the peninsula to spend a few hours on Long Beach. This was well worth the extra effort, as the half mile of sand and perfect rocky coves are far superior to the shingle beach in the main town.
On our walk back to town we had an interesting experience while passing a row of housing for the elderly. As we passed the white picket fence, a frail voice piped up from the garden beyond. “Excuse me, would you like some vegetables?” Said a little old lady shuffling through the garden on her Zimmerframe. “Yeah sure” was our confused reply. As she let us through the side gate, we were led (slowly) down to her raised vegetable patch, where she explained that her husband wouldn’t eat the carrots and radishes she had been growing, and she hated to waste them. We gratefully accepted them, and the kids even got to pull their own ones from the earth. What a very bizarre but wholesome experience, and it really echoes how safe and neighbourhood like these small New Zealand towns feel, almost like English village life in days gone by.
The next day we packed our car and said goodbye to the Northland. We started our journey back down towards Auckland for a one night stopover before heading to the Coromandel Peninsula for a week. Hopefully it’s still accessible after the cyclone, but I guess we would find out…