Day 3: Paihia & Bay of Islands

Today has ended up being an excellent adventure despite the uncertain start with our itinerary.

Our 9.30am speed boat trip to the Hole in the Rock got cancelled but we got switched over to a 4.5hr cruise around the Bay of Islands, leaving at 10am. It too was supposed to visit the Hole, but was going to be unlikely, according to the staff at the check-in. However, once aboard the boat, our fearless captain told us she was just going to poke our head out into the rough seas just to see how rough the winds were actually making it. Lucky for us, she decided it wasn't that bad, all things considered, so we actually ended up making it all the way to viewthe Hole. We just didn't manage to go right through it, which they usually do in calmer weather.

Then the boat stopped at Otehei Bay on Urupukapuka Island (apparently author Zane Grey lived here in the 1920's and wrote about the spectacular game fishing in the Bay of Islands) for 90 mins and where we bought lunch and climbed a very windy hill before getting back on board for the 45min trip back to land.

We arrived back about 2.30pm and jumped in the car and drove straight to Waitangi Treaty Grounds for another tour that we had pre-booked. In theory we were supposed to have had all afternoon there, but with the change to the mornings plans we only had 2 hours to race in to catch a 30 min cultural performance and the 50min tour of the grounds, before it closed at 5pm.

The cultural performance was great. The guided tour followed straight after and I believe our guide was really keen to finish up for the day and avoid the incoming rain because he speeded through his talk and tour, only allowing time for questions when he paused for breath, which wasn't very often. So we were all done and dusted with that part in about 35mins.

That did however, allow us time for a quick visit to the Price of Citizenship Museum, which is basically a very moving war memorial opened in March 2020 for a brief moment in time before it closed again for Covid Lockdown. It is obviously open again now...

There is a second museum on the grounds that we didn't get to see, but our tickets are valid for 2 days, so we might get back there tomorrow afternoon...

From there we stopped at Woolies for provisions and came back to hotel to have hot chocolate and hot cross buns for dinner....Read more