Bay of Islands.

Our second destination within New Zealand was Paihia, in the beautiful Bay of Islands.
We arrived directly from Auckland, travelling on an intercity bus which took around 4 hours... the journey was interesting to say the least! We had a hilarious little bus driver who seemed to be pretty care free, taking his eyes off the road every now and again to read through his notes, despite the coach casually swaying from side to side on an 80mph motorway. 

We were able to see some beautiful scenery as we travelled through mountain roads and vast countryside and were dropped right outside our hostel, arriving in the pouring rain at about 8pm. Its always a welcome bonus when I dont have to rely on my map navigation skills to get us from A to B.. although I'm pretty chuffed with myself so far, even if I do occasionally have to step on the map like Joey from the Friends episode in London. 

The hostel itself was actually surprisingly lovely. It was right on the beach and had a really relaxed feel to it, such a contrast from our hostel in the city. It was, however, my first experience of having to sleep in the top of a bunk bed and as you can imagine, not my finest or most graceful moment. Getting myself up the ladder was interesting and I can only apologise to the poor guy (Dave) below me who did have my various belongings falling onto his head, as well as the unrelaxing motions of me trying to balance myself once I had clambered up.

On our first day in Paihia we walked down to the seafront. Immediately the views were striking, we were greeted by a stunning beach with turquoise waters and little boats dotted around and of course, being English, the sand was incredibly exciting also. 

After a wonder along the beach we decided to take a walk to Haruru Falls. I say walk.. it was more of a trek - 16km altogether, taking about an hour and a half each way. I don't know what I was expecting but as we arrived at the gate of this almost tropical looking forest in the 26 degree heat, there was a sense of excitement with an element of fear at what was to come. As hard and hot as the walk was at times, it really was worth it. The views were amazing, there was a lot of different terrain, finally ending up at the waterfall which felt like a huge relief and a buzz at the same time! You can see a few photos of this below and before you get confused thats not Lara Croft in the rainforest, its just me, coated from head to toe in bug spray and suncream, ready to take on the wilderness. (I got burnt and got bitten by the way).

One of my favourite parts of this particular adventure was walking through a 'mangrove' which is an intertidal forest which becomes submerged twice daily at high tides. I hadn't seen anything like these before and walking through them was quite an odd experience.

Our second day, after another shockingly awful nights sleep in the bunk bed situation, was quite an adventure! 

We got a boat from the Paihia Wharf right across to the famous (I had honestly never heard of it) 'Hole in the Rock' which you can see in a photo below. It was quite cool as the boat actually sailed through it and we learned about its history and how sailors used to believe that if a drop fell on you as you passed through the hole you would be blessed with good fortune... as I am sure you can imagine not a single drop landed on or around me during the passing. 

We were also lucky enough to see some dolphins. There were so many of them and they came so close to the boat. A few of them jumped out the water and they seemed to love the boat, following it even as we were pulling away. Unfortunately our photography skills were far from professional, thankfully Lydia pulled it out the bag or else you would just have had my photos of the sea, the odd splash and an accidental picture of the man in front of me.. awkward. 

En route to the Hole in the Rock we stopped on an island called Urupukapuka. It was only a 15 minute climb to the top and after my 16km walk the day before I shot up there like an absolute athlete (I basically crawled the whole way, being over taken on all angles, by all age groups). The views at the top were definitely special, the island allows you a complete 360 view of the surrounding islands and beaches, which eased my crying leg muscles as it really was beautiful. 

On the way back to Paihia our boat stopped at a small town called Russell. It was a very pretty, modest place that had a lot of character. We had a wonder around, visiting their tiny museum and the oldest church in New Zealand that is still in use today. Although Russell did not have a great deal of things to do it was unique and sitting on the beach looking across at the other islands was a rare opportunity for a bit of quiet, away from the craziness of the busy tourist attractions... we also had the nicest cookie flavoured ice cream so I was pretty content with life in general. 

Altogether we had an amazing few days in the Bay of Islands. It was our first proper stop away from the city and in a place that was completely different from home. I loved it the minute I saw the beach and would love to go back although next time no more top bunk beds, not just for my own safety but for the safety of others (sorry again Dave).

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