Driving to Northland this morning up State Highway 1 took us through miles of scenic rolling forrested hills and as we drove along a ridge we could see further ranges on either side, oh how we are going to miss all of this. We stopped off for a quick break in Waipu (which I could now translate with my new Maori skills as: wai=water/stream, pu=double) which had the most delightful town sign as you entered, with the greeting "A hundred thousand welcomes".
Picnicking by the lovely harbour in Whangarei we were admiring many of the beautiful sailing boats and were fascinated by how far they had travelled to get here as most of them were flying European flags. I took a quick rest on some seat statues representing sea birds landing.
We were having our last proper tour stop in Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, which is near the very north east, and finishing in style with 3 nights at a backpackers lodge. We have cheated a little by having an ensuite private room (plus we have a car and suitcases, rather than a giant rucksack) but we are still sharing a lovely big clean kitchen and the communal rooms with all of the travelling youngsters.
It was quite fun labelling up our fridge items and it took me back to my youth hosteling days. I asked Bryan the manager if we were a bit too old to stay here but he told us that the oldest guests he has had were a 72 year old lady with her 94 year old mother, so we were relatively spring chickens.
Today we had a truly wonderful day trip on what the booking leaflet calls 'Awesome day sailing adventure on our 65ft go-fast ocean sailing yacht'. Boarding the yacht with about 16 young people, mostly couples, from Germany, The Netherlands and Canada, we set off and got under sail immediately to explore the whole Bay of Islands; we could help out with the sailing too if we wished. Apparently when Captain Cook was here exploring he mapped 144 islands in the bay.
It was a little cloudy first thing and the boat was very lively in the water, leaning right over at times, which was fun, and the bay was almost empty of other vessels.
We soon found a large pod of Bay of Islands bottle nose dolphins, a large sub-species, leaping and playing alongside the yacht and we were encouraged to whoop and call loudly to keep them interested so they would stay closer for longer. They were beautiful and graceful as they did seemingly synchronised diving in pairs.
After a couple of hours we dropped anchor at beautiful sheltered island, so that we could swim, kayak, snorkel and take the compulsory hobbit-style barefooted bush walk to take in the views, which were stunning.
The sea was beautiful, clear and refreshing and we all got in to the water for a swim.
MIke, the owner and captain, was brilliant and very informative and entertaining and wanted to pass on his knowledge to anyone about fishing and sailing. I asked for 'a turn at the helm' and after a couple of brief instructions proceeded to sail the yacht for a while which was a real treat.
Steve then took over and steered us for ages. We chatted to a really nice young German couple and then Steve picked the brains of a couple from Canada to glean some more tips for his forthcoming Canada Tour planning. The sun shone all afternoon and it was just great sailing all day in such a relaxed atmosphere, plus being fed regular snacks and lunch, and all this in a beautiful bay; definitely one of the real highlights of the New Zealand tour.
We were dropped off in Russell, a short ferry ride home across the bay from Paihia, which was the first capital city of New Zealand back in the 1800's and houses the oldest church,
the first pub and first hotel (which served a very civilised pot of earl grey for our late afternoon tea). The town is small but quaint with many attractive wooden weatherboard buildings.
We awoke today to the sound of the wind howling outside the bedroom window which meant that cyclone Pam was well on her way.
Braving the weather and wanting to experience some strong winds we walked round the bay to Waitangi, one of the most famous locations in New Zealand if you are a kiwi. This is where the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, was signed in 1840 by the British Government and the Maori. I walked back along the beach into a strong headwind, getting my legs sandblasted at the same time, and was astonished to see windsurfers out on the sea obviously in need of a stiff challenge; even the seabirds were all staying firmly on the beach.
We had been tipped off by Capt Mike that there was another Della in Paihia who worked in the information centre so we popped in to say hello. She was also from the UK originally and was very pleased to be meeting a different Della too; we are quite a rare breed.
Back at the hostel we sensibly stayed in for the afternoon and evening having a scrabble marathon, whilst other residents played cards, monopoly, did jigsaws or watched a DVD.
Cooking in the busy kitchen this evening was very sociable and I met some really nice young travellers from England. We all swapped stories about our New Zealand and South East Asia experiences as this is where everybody seems to be going at the moment, and then Steve and I ate our dinner with a Taiwanese young lady who lives and works in London but seems to spend most of her time travelling the globe. I have loved staying at the hostel but Steve is not convinced.
Having been away now for 7 weeks this was our first day of relaxing and putting our feet up, although it did feel a bit strange not to be out exploring. We have been amazingly fortunate with the weather on this trip, and after a chilly, slightly snowy start (which now seems in the dim and distant past) it has since been mostly bright, warm and sunny and to conclude with a cyclone, well we can hardly complain.
Despite listening to some screeching, squalling winds during the night cyclone Pam largely missed us on her pathway down the North Island eastern coast, but we were grateful for some concerned emails from friends and family. This was to be our last day in New Zealand and we were heading south to Auckland to catch our flight tomorrow morning.
We wanted a beautiful final memory so detoured off the main highway and instead took a tourist scenic route along the west coast to Piha, a beach area I had read about in the guide book which has been used many times as a filming location. Little had I expected the road to wind round tight headlands for many miles, it had looked very straightforward on the map!
It was a fascinating collection of beaches with huge almost island sized rocks separating different areas and to explore we had to be a little hasty to beat the incoming tide.
There were varied geographical and geological features to look at
but just gazing out and wishing we could have a whole day here so that we could swim and have a hike as well as discovering all of the hidden coves was nice.
Before we left we did manage a quick scramble up Lion Rock (centre) as far as the footpath permitted to get some final viewpoints on either side.
This has been a superb trip/tour/holiday which we shall never forget. We have seen incredible and wide-ranging natural sights, stayed in terrific little towns and met some lovely people throughout our travels, oh and the local sauvignon blanc was excellent. I don't know where the millions of sheep were hiding as we seemed to see easily as many cows, but this meant that we enjoyed many a fine steak.
Last stop Hong Kong before we return home...
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