Bay of Islands

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I got my first Kiwi bus this morning, up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. I had a bit of a shock when they told me I'd need to be outside the hostel at 7:15AM ! Luckily, I'm seriously jet-lagged like in Japan, where you are wide awake at 5AM, and fade rapidly when it gets to 8/9PM.

Got on well with a few people on the bus, and booked into a room at the Pipi patch, which is a really funky hostel right next to all the attractions. We all went up to a waterfall called the Haruru falls, and then walked back to the Hostel, passing through some Mangrove trees (these are really strange trees where half the roots point upwards to absorb nutrients when the tide floods in).

Bay of Islands

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On the way back we stopped in at the Waitangi Treaty house. This is where the Maori and English settlers signed a treaty in 1840 to keep the French and co at bay, as they decided one day to claim New Zealand for themselves, and also to try and stop the sailors misbehaving (the Bay of islands was known as the 'hellhole of the Pacific' thanks to them .. use your imagination ;-) ).

On the second day I was here, I went to swim with the dolphins (another early start, I had to be at the wharf at 7:45AM !). It was a really great experience, we found a pod of 3/4 dolphins pretty much straight away, and I took a load of pics (attached to this entry). After this was when the fun really started, as I pulled on a wetsuit, started shivering uncontrollably in the wind, and jumped into the sea to snorkel around, and try to get close to the dolphins. Unfortunately they only popped up for a bit at a time, and I couldn't get over to where they were, but it was still a good experience.

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I had a walk up to a viewing point which overlooks the Bay in the afternoon, it was a bit of a slog up there, but the view was definitely worth it. You could see right across the bay to Russell.