More Bay of Islands

Hi everyone,

Now that I've had a good night's sleep (in my own bed!) I can tell you about our week in the Bay of Islands.

We left Welly at 8am and finally made it to Russell at about 8pm, just minutes before our holiday park shut down for the night. Thank goodness for the long summer evenings, because we still had enough light to put up our tent. After we had things mostly sorted, we went and grabbed dinner on the waterfront. It was such a relief to be there.

The second and third day it rained off an on (well, all of the third day, really) so we hunkered down in the tent and read and slept. It was very relaxing. Our new tent performed wonderfully, and even after 24 hours of consistent rain, we were nice and dry. Thank goodness we decided on the spur of the moment to invest in a new tent...anything less could have been disasterous!

 After the rain cleared, we had day after day of glorious sunshine. We went to Paihia and Waitangi (where NZ's treaty with the Maori was signed) on the fourth day, and then spent the next three days on the beach in Russell. Long Beach was just a ten minute walk away from our tentsite, and it was stunning. We swam, picnicked, read, sunbathed, explored rock pools, and snoozed...it was absolute heaven. After our days at the beach, we'd shower and go out on the town for the evenings. The highlights were the Swordfish Club, the Duke of Marlborough (pictured), and our big flashy dinner at Kamakura (last post, us at the table). 

It was a fantastic holiday, especially for being so budget-conscious. We had plenty of rest, sun, sea, and great food and drinks. It felt like a different world up in Northland, and it was good to remind ourselves that we're still in beautiful New Zealand!

The last day we carefully planned our return to Auckland (and then Welly, of course), but we got to the airport only to find out that our flight was cancelled. I explained most of the situation in my last post. At first we were upset, but in the end it was a lovely bonus day of vacation, all compliments of Pacific Blue. 

So all in all, we had a wonderful time. Rory went back to work today, and I go back on Wednesday, but we really can't complain...we had two and a half great weeks together.

Love,

Amy