Bay of Islands
James
This weekend is the Queen's birthday. Neither of us know the Queen, so we decided to use the day off to go travelling. I've decided that it would also be a good idea to write this entry as we go, seeing as we are both leading pretty busy weekday lives these days.
The weekend started a little rough for Alex. We left Friday evening, stopping off for dinner dinner, and Alex dropped her phone. The screen is cracked and it won't turn on… She proceeded to remember that she forgot her runners and undies later that night. We took a long detour and ended up having to stop next to some cricket field toilets in a small town because all the proper places were closed the time of night.
Today arrived well, however, as we woke about 10 minutes drive from Goat Island to see the mysterious morning fog. Goat Island was a pretty good morning sight. We spent about an hour combing the rock pools and watching(or being watched by) a small group of large snapper in the crystal clear water of the marine reserve. We are scheduled to arrive in Waitangi around lunch. I'll get Alex to write an update tomorrow.
Alex
After Goat Island we drove further north to Paihia, the gateway to the Bay of Islands. Along the way our interest was piqued by a tourist sign pointing towards the ‘famous’ Hundertwasser’s toilets in Kawakawa. It had popped up on our camping sites app as a freedom camping spot ‘not to be missed’, no other explanations or reviews provided… the toilets themselves were quite cool, but the vibe of the people in town left me keen to continue on.
Paihia is a small but touristy town, at least half the buildings we saw were motels, hotels, backpackers or b&bs. We found a track which, after a 30-minute walk, provided us a lovely view over the Bay. There was not much else to do in Paihia, unless you had a spare $200-or-so to spend on a cruise around the islands, or searching for and swimming with dolphins. It's a bit chilly this time of year, and unfortunately we don't really have that sort of budget at the moment.
James
On the Sunday, we left for Kerikeri. We went straight to a historic reserve called the Kerikeri basin. The basin had the Stone Store (the oldest stone building in New Zealand) and plenty of history stuff to look at. After walking around for a bit we left down a track towards Wharepuka and Rainbow Falls. Rainbow Falls is quite an impressive waterfall.
The afternoon saw us tired (the walk to the falls was a 8.6 km round trip), so we headed to Aroha Island were we would camp. This was the highlight of the trip. Aroha Island is a small ecological center, and home to four wild kiwi. After dark we headed out with our red light torches (so as not to scare off the birds) for some kiwi spotting. Unfortunately we didn’t see any, however we definitely heard them on two occasions. So close. Time for bed though.
We woke at 6 am, just over an hour before sunrise, so thought it would be good to go for another look. By this time the kiwis must have gone to bed for the day, because we didn’t see or hear a peep. At least we saw the sun rise. We had fun looking too. We spent Monday morning relaxing a little, picking some wild olives and reading, before the trip back to Auckland.
Until next time. Stay safe.
James & Alex
