Bay of Islands

We drove up the Bay of Islands after renting a car from Auckland. We wanted to base ourselves in Paihia for a couple of days. After a lovely drive up through much prettier scenery than we imagined we arrived around 4pm looking for somewhere stay. Sadly all the backpacker places were full and my temper was getting the better of me! Ryan tried the tourist office who suggested a place out of town. So off we went there expecting the worst. The couple running this motel/ hostel were lovely and offered us a 4 bed dorm but said they would try not to put any one else in it. We headed off to grab some food to cook that night as they had a lovely deck area by the river so fancied staying in. Whilst out we secured our double room in a gorgeous hostel for the next two nights (this picture is a view from the hostel)as we liked the town so much. I also booked my dolphin boat trip which I had been looking

The next day we lazed about town, did some interneting and lay on the grass by the beach. It was bliss. We grabbed some groceries for dinner and had a nice night in at the hostel.

The next day I was up early for my boat trip, there was a chance of swimming with dolphins if the conditions were right but I was excited just to see them. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and I sat up on the bow of the boat. We were then told there was a pod of dolphins ahead - it was fantastic to see so many of them - I loved it. I took lots of pictures and videos! After all the different pods we saw, the boat headed to an island where we stopped for coffee. It was lovely, gorgeous clear water (but freezing) and lovely sand.

We headed back to shore after our quick stop and I wandered back to the hostel to meet up with Ryan. We had some lunch and then decided to grab the ferry over to Russell.

Russell is actually part of the main land but takes forever to get to so we took the passenger foot ferry. We had a lovely ice cream and milled around the town. The graveyard here holds huge significance due to the Maori people allowing the British Sovereignty in and New Zealand becoming part of the British Empire, now Commonwealth. Russell feels like a Caribbean island, very luscious with beaches and crystal clear water. We jumped on the ferry back after a very hot game of Frisbee on the beach, and planned to go for a sun downer overlooking the shore.

As we got off the boat we heard that a boat was coming in with a Blue Marlin on, so we headed to have a look - it was massive!