Paihia

Before we left Whangarei, we went to look at the AH Reed Park and Whangarei Falls. AH Reed Park is an area of natural bushland with kauri trees, with a walkway which takes you through the forest at a reasonable height, so you can look down into the forest as well as looking up above. The falls are just outside town and feature a pleasant walk from the top level of the river down to the bottom, with plenty of opportunities for picturesqueness in between.

Driving north from Whangarei, we stopped along the way at Matapouri, to take a quick walk along the way to Whale Bay, one of New Zealand’s best beaches, and not accessible by car – you have to park and then walk quite a way to reach it. We planned to walk along the headland track but the tide was in, and you can only get round there when it’s out, so instead we went over the ridgeway track instead.   

We arrived in Paihia in the middle of the afternoon, on a sunny day when the temperature hit 30°. Hot for New Zealand! We immediately found our accommodation, the Swiss Chalet lodge, and then headed in to town to get our bearings and also to stock up on breakfast supplies from the local Countdown. On our first evening out, we dined al fresco on the pier at Alongside Bar.

Unfortunately, the weather was on the turn and a system full of rain was headed for Northland for the next few days. The next day, Nicola did her best to hit the beach, but the sun soon disappeared and the day turned grey. We decided to go to Russell and try a couple of wineries over there. The first, Paroa Bay Winery, was fairly new. We spoke to the owner about winemaking (he’d formerly been a brewer at Kingfisher in India) and tried all his wines, finally taking a bottle of sauvignon blanc because it tastes nothing like a “normal” savvy b, but has a far fruitier flavour, driven by melon and pineapple. The setting there is really nice, and we were able to stroll amongst the vines.

We stopped in at Russell for some lunch, and then went to the other vineyard in the area – Omata Estate. Once again, a great location, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by the wines, and the winemaker himself seemed less than convinced by them – he told us he only makes sauvignon blanc because he has to, not because he wants to. I felt that the wines all tasted somewhat insipid and similar, and that his heart wasn’t really in it. His spiel seemed largely aimed at tourists and as there were several groups tasting at the same time, I didn’t really get an opportunity to talk about the wines. Probably just as well, and we left empty-handed.

The next day was a complete washout, with heavy rain most of the day.

Our final day the rain eased somewhat, and we drove out to try some more vineyards around Kerikeri. Two of these were closed – presumably because of the weather – although there seemed to be plenty of people around willing to give them a go anyway. We bumped into some people more than once at the various vineyards we did go to. The first we visited, Fat Pig, was the best, and we chatted to Tereza, the Czech Republican wife of the winemaker, who told us about their vineyards and the set-up around Kerikeri. Many of the wines they sold were from other vineyards which did not have a cellar door, and they all used the same winemaking equipment form Marsden Vineyard, which unfortunately was one of the vineyards not open today. The next two vineyards we visited were busier (one had a restaurant, and they seemed to be directing most of their attention in that direction), and again, with several other groups in at the same time I didn’t really get a chance to talk to the winemakers.

We stopped at a Palm Bistro on the way and listened to Luna Chix playing whilst we had our burgers for lunch. Then, as it was still raining, we headed back to Paihia.

Tonight is our last night before flying from Kerikeri back to Wellington, where the rain will have probably have caught us up.

Hellhole Of The Pacific

On our final full day in the Bay of Islands, we went across to Russell, the oldest European town in New Zealand and former capital. Back in the day, it was known as “the hellhole of the Pacific” as it was full of drunken sailors, whalers, prostitutes, gambling dens and the like. Not much has changed since then…no, wait, nowadays it’s a genteel town with a few houses, some hotels and shops, and a couple of bars. None of which seemed to be called The Hellhole Of The Pacific, which we found a bit disappointing.

We walked around, took pictures of the historic church, historic fig tree, historic policeman’s  house…then had lunch and sat around for a while on the beach, whilst we waited for our final excursion – an evening trip on the sailing ship R. Tucker Thompson. This ship is run by a charitable trust that takes disadvantaged children and, quite literally, shows them the ropes of sailing. In the summer it takes tourists out on cruises to pay for this activity.

Historic police station

The staff were all very cheerful and friendly, drinks were available and food passed around, and we chatted to some of the other passengers. Some bravely ascended the ratlines to help with the rigging, but we kept our feet firmly on deck. Whilst I have been on large yachts before, this one does everything by hand – none of your winches for hauling in the sheets here! I helped out a bit with the steering and tacking, but as we had at best a Force 2 wind, it wasn’t exactly demanding sailing! Eventually, the breeze dropped so far that we had to resort to the diesel engine, otherwise we’d have been out there till midnight.

Me driving the boat

We landed at the yacht’s night mooring and were bussed back to Paihia, where we went for a final dinner at the Café Over The Bay.

So that’s it for our Bay of Islands adventure. We will undoubtedly be back at some time in the future, but for now we’re heading back to Wellington, and a new year in New Zealand.

Diet Of Worms

As the weather guess (formerly known as a “forecast”) was for overcast and drizzle all day, we decided to have another crack at the Kawiti glow-worm cave just south of Paihia. Duly equipped with sufficient cash to effect entry, we turned up shortly before midday. There was a tour due to leave in ten minutes, so we waited around doing the crossword.

Our guide told us all about the history of the cave, how it had been discovered 360 years ago by the wife of a Maori chief who had run away and lived there. The caves themselves are classic limestone, with stalactites and stalagmites, formed around 20 million years ago.

Stalactite at the cave entrance

Once inside the cave, the guide led us up to where the glow-worms lived on the ceiling of the cave. They are different from European glowworms, being the larval form of the Arachnocampa luminosa fly, found only in New Zealand and Australia. The larval stage lasts for nine months, then they pupate and an adult fly emerges, which lives about 3 days. When the guide turned off his light, the ceiling of the cave lit up in a scene eerily similar to the night sky. The lights attract other insects, which then get stuck in a network of silk threads that the worms dangle to use to trap their prey.

We couldn’t take pictures inside the cave, so here’s one taken by someone else.

Afterwards, as the weather hadn’t brightened up much, we decided to drive up to Kerikeri, where we had some lunch. Unfortunately Kerikeri doesn’t have much to recommend it, so we headed back to Paihia. On the way we stopped off at a winery that we'd spotted before, Cottle Hill. We tasted and bought some of their products, including a white port.

The drizzle never materialised. The sun came out for a while.

The Far Side

We hadn’t booked any excursions for Boxing Day, so we decided to take the hire car and drive over to the west coast of Northland. There were a few places we wanted to visit, and we thought it would be a good idea to get them all done in one trip.

We started off by going back to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, to finish off the tour that we started on Christmas Eve. We took in the Treaty House, which was originally the first official British building in New Zealand, belonging to the British Resident, James Busby. Most of the building was made in Australia and shipped to New Zealand to be fabricated here. In the garden we found fantails. I had another crack at wildlife photography, but the little blighters move too fast!

A somewhat blurry Fantail

We also caught the end of a tour of Te Whare Runanga, a Maori meeting house or marae, that was built as part of the centenary celebrations in 1940. The carvings inside are from different Maori tribes throughout New Zealand, and we heard explanations of what some of the different symbols meant – why the tongues are out and what it means when they are pointed in different directions.

Next stop was to head south to go and visit the glow-worm caves, but as it turned out, we couldn’t get in because (a first in our experience) they didn’t take card payments, and we didn’t have enough cash on us for the entrance charge! Never mind, we’ll head back down there another time, making sure that we have sufficient change in our pocketses!

We decided to drive straight over to the west coast, get some lunch, and then make our way back stopping off at the various places that we wanted to see. This was easier said than done, as it took us a little effort to find a café that was open. We eventually found one in Waiotemarama.

The scenery along the coast is spectacular, with some enormous sand dunes and great surf waves crashing into the beach. But the main attraction in this part of Northland is the Kauri forest. Kauri trees are native to New Zealand, and some of them grow to be very big indeed. The Waipoua Forest contains the largest and oldest of these. The pictures don’t really give you a true idea of the scale of these trees – the largest one, named Tane Mahuta (Lord of the forest) is 14 metres in circumference. I’m standing quite a way in front of it!

Tane Mahuta 

We also saw some of the "smaller" trees including the Four Sisters.

The Four Sisters

After that we headed to the Wairere Boulders. These are found up a gravel track and are the only basalt boulder valley on a clay base in the world. The boulders have been eroded by the acid content of the Kauri forest that used to surround them, into flutes and folds known as karst.

Look at that fluting!

That was about it for the day’s adventures – it was late afternoon and we headed for home.

Haruru Falls

Christmas day was a day for not doing very much at all. Nothing was open, so we drove up to Haruru Falls just outside Paihia, to look at them. It seems we weren’t the only ones with the same idea as there were a few people around, including one fisherman.

Afterwards we readied ourselves for Christmas lunch, which we had booked at one of the few restaurants that had decided to open. The weather on Christmas day wasn’t brilliant – there was a thin overcast all day –but it was warm, and we were fine sitting outside.

Pulling a cracker

Christmas lunch didn’t involve any prawns or barbies, nor any Brussels sprouts. It was a leisurely affair, after which we came back for a little rest, which lasted the rest of the day. Life in the fast lane!

The Hole In The Rock

After lunch at the Café Over The Bay, we headed down to Paihia Wharf. We’d booked tickets for the afternoon to go on a tour to the Hole In The Rock. The ship was called The Dolphin Seeker, and, er, that’s what we did.

Leaving Paihia behind

We started off heading to Russell, to pick up additional passengers, then headed out to the open area of the Bay Of Islands, where bottlenose dolphins are to be found on a daily basis. Also sometimes present are (the slightly rarer :-/) common dolphins, and also orcas. Today, we only saw bottlenoses. We came across a largish pod of about 15 dolphins, including some juveniles and some very young ones with their mothers. As you can see below, there’s an art to dolphin photography, much like my sports photography!

That was one - right there!

Fortunately there was a professional photographer on board, sanctioned by the tour operator, who had taken pictures of us as we boarded with the express intention of selling these to us as part of the day’s package. Also included in this package was a good picture of a dolphin having fun, and as soon as I figure out how to download it, it will be featured here:

Having spent some time watching the dolphins, at times through a shower of rain that blew across us, we then headed out to the north-eastern tip of the Bay Of Islands, Motu Kokako, otherwise known as the Hole In The Rock. This is, as the name suggests, an arch in Piercy Island off the main promontory, Cape Brett. As we sailed out there the swell got noticeably choppier, as we were now moving out of the  relatively calm and protected waters of the bay and out into the Pacific Ocean. The weather again turned squally, and by the time we reached the hole it was too rough for the captain to attempt to take us through. So we contented ourselves with circling around both entrances to the hole without actually going through it, then headed back into calmer seas.

On the way back we stopped of at Otehei Bay on Urupukapuka, the largest island in the Bay. We spent an hour there, climbing up to the lookout point and taking pictures all around the bay, before heading back down to have a quick refreshment and getting back on board for the remainder of the trip home.

View from the lookout

That was our first full day in the Bay Of Islands. Tomorrow is Christmas, so we shall spend it going for a swim in the sea in the morning, followed by Christmas lunch in one of the restaurants on the main drag in Paihia, Marsden Road. The rest of the day we shall spend lollygagging.

It's Grim Up North

Tomorrow we’re heading off to our holiday destination of Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. We’ll be up there for a week, doing holiday stuff, driving around the area, and generally enjoying ourselves.

I’ll be taking the laptop and webcam, so please feel free to Skype us whilst we’re there! I’ll report on grimness, or lack thereof.

Looking at the weather forecast (and how reliable are those?) it looks like the current rainy/cloudy weather that has bedevilled these isles for the past week will finally lift, to give us some nice, warm, sunny weather…so it’s time for the slip-slop-slap again. 

Sadly we're going to miss the fifth home game of the Wellington Firebirds in the HRV Cup. Since we last went to see them, they've lost one, won one, and had one match abandoned; which has picked them up to 3rd in the table, with 3 games still to play, so they could still make it to the final.