Bay of Islands Part One

Our final destination in New Zealand was Northland, home to some of the country's most sparsely populated land, a huge variety of landscapes and very varied weather!

We arrived into the seaside town of Paihia in the early afternoon after a short 30 minute drive from Aroha Island. After checking into what turned out to be our best hostel of the whole trip (Saltwater Lodge, if you're curious) we walked to a bar round the corner on the seafront where they had great live music as we ate a delicious meal, before a swim in the very-salty ocean off of the beach. It made for a very relaxed afternoon and a good introduction to the town.

At 10am on Monday morning we were aboard ZigZag, a 65ft double hulled catamaran that was gliding away from the marina area in Paihia to take us for our day trip into the Bay Of Islands. As we began sailing out of the harbour we stopped briefly at another seaside town named Russell to collect the remaining passengers then we were out into the ocean dotted with hundreds of islands, all of varying sizes. Very shortly after we left ZigZag was steered toward a group of other larger boats, which was weird considering how empty the area was. As we got closer though it became clear what the Skipper was doing - there was a group of bottle nosed dolphins swimming in the water and the boats offered dolphin watching experiences!

When we were close to the dolphins a few appeared right next to the submerged part of the boat and continued to swim right below where we were sat over the water and they swam with the boat for about 10 minutes, jumping out and spraying us from their blowholes - it was incredible to see them so close! The Skipper later told me that the boat isn't licensed to follow the dolphins like the other boats do, which is why we hadn't been told that it might have happened, and the reason the dolphins followed for so long was because of the bulbous-shape of the front of the boat that sits just below the water level, it looks almost like a dolphin! Apparently the dolphins following ZigZag really annoys the other companies who offer tours to see them, but we were glad of it!

An hour and a half or so after we left Paihia we arrived at our first island of the day, named Robertson Island. We were taken ashore on their dingy where we climbed a few hundred steps to a lookout atop the island's largest hill, which gave panoramic views of the whole area of Bays. It was on that spot that Captain Cook gave the area it's (rather creative...) name, the Bay of Islands. It was really beautiful up there. The island itself got it's name from a European family who owned the island at one stage, until they were murdered as revenge for slighting their killer, a Maori servant. For his crime, he became the first executed person in New Zealand...morbid!

Anyway, we walked about the beach a little and then swam off the boat for about 10 minutes before everyone was called back to the boat to continue our journey on to the next stop of the day. The 90 minute cruise to the next stop was breathtaking with green islands dotted everywhere, some big and some small but all surrounded by clear, deep blue water. We relaxed on the deck and enjoyed a light snack, arriving at a second beautiful island where we would spend the afternoon.

Our group of 30 were served a buffet lunch that included green lipped mussels in a spicy sauce, freshly baked focaccia bread, saucy chicken wings, salads...it was plentiful and delicious, giving us energy for the snorkelling we would be doing next. About 20 metres from the boat was a large area of reef and although there wasn't a great deal of sea life there it was enjoyable being in the water. We also swam over to the beach and found a few beautiful shells, mementos of the area. Sadly they fell from my pocket while swimming back to boat, so I swam from the boat again and collected some others! The beach and a few metres out was covered with so many nice ones. There were also A LOT of sea urchins, which we gave a wide berth until we got back onto the boat to find the deck hand had collected half a dozen of them and was proceeding to break them open and eat them! Well not quite them actually, it was the caviar-like eggs inside she was after. When offered to try it too we both said yes, although it isn't an experience I'd recommend. It's very salty, oily and slimy!

By now it was getting late in the afternoon so the boat cruised back to Paihia while we enjoyed the surrounding beauty and chatted with some of the other guests. It was a brilliant day and had been sunny and the water calm all day, just perfect.

PhilRead more