Bay of Islands

Sunday 12 September


We started off today at the Treaty Grounds, on a much better day than yesterday, the sun was out and the ground drying.

The Treaty Grounds are where the Maori and the English signed a treaty to live and work together in one nation. It is still used today because it guarantees the rights of Maori and non-Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand. Aotearoa means Land of Long White Cloud.

The original Residence has been restored and we had a walk through its rooms. Part of the back shows the original structure and explains the additions and restorations. The rooms show life in the early days. There’s a herb garden in the courtyard and also a kitchen garden as well as lawns and flower gardens.

We had a walk around Paihia then after lunch went aboard Ipipiri, a quite luxurious catamaran, for our overnight cruise around the Bay of Islands. We had a really great time, very relaxing and friendly. We have met almost our entire group now, and are enjoying ourselves very much.

Monday 13 September

A leisurely start today, breakfast was as good as always, and we saw a pod of dolphins on our way back to Opua to disembark from Ipipiri and rejoin our coach.

Today was a drive back to Auckland, and was mostly over the same road we had covered on our way up to the Far North. The country is mostly good dairy country, similar to the NSW coast. There are a lot of pine plantations, very good grazing for the dairy cattle and some sheep.

After arriving in Auckland, we had a walk along the waterfront and around a couple of the shopping blocks – good to stretch our legs after being on the coach for the afternoon.

We have an early start tomorrow, ready for our first train ride. Geoff, our guide, and Steve, our driver, have warned us that tomorrow is a good food day. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes!

We will be in Rotorua tomorrow for a 2-night stop, so will be able to do some laundry and re-pack the bags, which is always a good thing to do.