Another Day, Another Bay

  Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Sunday, February 4, 2007

From my vague childhood memories, The Bay Of Islands was supposed to be the most picturesque place in the world. This was not particularly evident upon our arrival.  The driving rain probably had a fair bit to do with this but rather disappointingly the breathtaking views I had in mind were none too aparent on that first afternoon, although our campsite was very pleasant; extremely green and very tree-y.  This was later to prove our downfall but for the time being it was pleasant enough.  The rain refuse to ease up so we were forced to cook in the campervan and try to work out how we were going to sleep five in it (bearing in mind it is designed to hold 3, absolutely max.).  The tent still had not dried, hence our hand was forced somewhat on the sleeping front.  Whilst Chris and I took the tent into the boiler room, and I experimented with the washing facilities on offer the girls put their minds to the task.  The girls decided the 3 of them could sleep on the large-ish double bed, leaving me and Chris to argue over the floor and the roof-bed above the drivers cabin (which had a slope much akin to Lords).  Chris declared he wanted to sleep on the floor as he had a plan and who was I to stop a man with a plan?!  it turned our Chris' plan involved sleeping underneath the girls bed to apparently minimise the chance of him being stepped on in case of any night time activity.  This sleeping position was from then on fondly referred to as the coffin, due to the rather cosy amount of room he had.

The following morning we headed into Paihia centre hoping for better things but alas, t'was not to be. The rain continued to fall, although we were assured it would clear up the following day by several ferry operators, keen to get us on their tours.  We eventually booked up a day long cruise of the bay and a 'cultural' exhibition that evening.  We spent the rest of the day wandering around the shops and spending an inordinately large amount of time sussing out where to have lunch.  The large volume of precipitation just didn't allow us to do much else.  Shortly after lunch we decided to take the fight to the weather and had a round of ice cream which despite being especially tasty did nothing for the rain gods and the drizzle continued evidently unimpressed.  Having whipped up some kind of culinary miracle (cooking and eating for 5 in a 3 man motorhome is a logistical nightmare without factoring in the presence of a vegetarian (Kate A) and one abnormally large apetite (me).) we drove to Waitangi Treaty House, the building where a large number of Maori Chiefs signed the first agreement with the British to cohabitate and protect/help each other when required.  We were then taken through the history of this turning point in New Zealands history through a combination of theatre, music and straight-up facts.  It worked delightfully well and the show was great fun to watch.  The real highlight came at the end when you could interact with the cast - ask them questions, get demonstrations of Maori weapons/toys and have some brilliant yet ridiculous photos taken.

We returned to our campervan to find a mini-disaster had struck.  Not only had the rain been annoying to us, it had also restricted the amount of solar-power the van could generate.  We had not helped this by parking under a rather large tree.  Honestly, we'd be dangerous with a brain between us.  That evening was then spent without a tent and without lights...at last, a proper camping experience!  Fortunately the air-con still worked as this was wired up to the mains we were plugged into, so we didnt melt away in our sleep.
The following day the sun at last showed its face.  We made immediate use of this and set out early to make the most of the glorious weather.  Our first stop was Haruru Falls, just a short drive from the campsite.  We were going to walk it but our confidence in the weather had well and truly dissipated.  The falls were brilliant, they created a magnificent amount of noise and had a series of seemingly cunningly placed stones which meant you could hop around the shallower parts or even walk halfway across the waterfall if you were feeling brave.    From here we drove through the grounds of the Treaty House again, this time seeing its splendour in the sunshine!  We then drove down to the seafront and the transformation was unbelievable.  In the sun the water glistened, far away islands hovered on the edge of vision maing you unsure if they exisited and the nearer islands were covered in a deep green which beautifully offest the fantastical blues of the sky and sea.  Brilliant!  We quickly retired to a cafe which had a balcony that looked out over the bay and settled in for a relaxed lunch.  Following this immense exertion we rewarded ourselves with a stint on the beach.  The beach was not by any standards brilliant, the sand was gritty and stony and the water was full of seaweed - not a patch on any of the aussie beaches - but the sun was out, the air was warm and the view was still stunning.

Ice cream was calling to us so we headed for the nearest shop, a poky little afair with not much on offer, but this has never bothered yours truly.  So whilst the others dithered I got stuck in and was soon the proud owner of a leaning tower of ice cream.  It was at this point that my cousin called me over and told me the others were going to the proper shop a few minutes down the road.  unpeterbed I hopped in the car and devoured my ice cream in just shy of four minutes, got out with them and had my second of the hour.  Its not like I could refuse, I'd have looked silly if I'd been the only one not having a frozen refreshment.  Instead I sounded silly as my tongue froze and I couldn't speak properly for the next half hour or so.  Our last stop of the day was the self-proclaimed largest and bestest mini-golf in all of NZ, including an awesome sounding par 7 hole1!  Surely I could claw back some of my defecit to Chris here.  Not so.  It was closed, so honours even there, though I did grab some glory in the Petanque competetion we had instead, proving that I am some kind of old french man in disguise.  We polished off a few bottles of wine with dinner and managed to get the tent up, all of which ensured we would get a good nights sleep before our big cruise the following day.

There is too much of a good thing and we were all having so much fun snoozing that we nearly missed our ferry dpearture the following morning.  Having done that frivilous walk-run combo down the jetty that is an attempt to go faster but is actually the same speed only more energy consuming, and you look like a prize idiot, we took a few of the empty seats.  Fortunately we were picking up more passengers at another wharf, so there was still plenty of seats left together.  The trip itself was fantastic, the sea largely behaved itself bar a short period out by the giant hole in the rock, which you sail through, where half the passengers turned a touch greener than is usually deemed healthy.  Highlights were seeing dolphins, stopping off for lunch on an empty beach in the middle of nowhere, which would have surely been jam packed with tourists had it been attached to the mainland., sailing through the hole in the rock and doing a spot of boom-netting.  Boom-netting involved acting like a caught fish, namely you jumped off the side of the boat into a giant net along with a large amount of strangers and then experiencing large amounts of g-force as the cruiser careered around the bay.  You then get to know some of your fellow passengers perhaps better than planned, and trust my luck to have the token big guy lose his grip and come flying into me so that I end up with an unrivalled view of his back.  In fact with a view of nothing but his back.  All I'm saying is, it could have been worse.  Apart from that 2 minutes it was a brilliant experience, I don't think I really appreciated how fast a large boat could travel, bu they certainly motor along!  Our lunchtime stop also had some surprisingly good views thrown in, as a short stroll up a nearby hill offered almost unparalled views across the bay, and what a lovely bay it is too...

We had little time to gather our thoughts after we docked back in Paihia as we headed straight back to the car and the van and set off for our next destination, on the opposite coast to The Bay Of Islands, a little stop-off that went by the slightly ridiculous name of Opononi.

Sam & Chris