Our South Island adventure finished on a high swimming with dolphins. We’d had a fantastic five weeks exploring the quiet wilderness of it but now we were excited to see what the North Island had in store for us.
Following a quick pit stop in Christchurch to return our trusty hire car we flew up to Auckland and picked up our next one. We drove north through beautiful rolling green hills and followed the scenic road to Paihia.
This vibrant and beautiful town is not only a fabulous place to stay with lots of things to do, it is also located next to Waitangi, a historic settlement that is home to a significant part of New Zealand’s history. This is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 which officially made New Zealand a British colony.
In Paihia we decided to explore the Bay of Islands on a sailing boat. With good weather forecast and an opportunity to do a bit more kayaking, we were excited to spend a day out at sea.
The weather for our day sailing could not have been more perfect. Blue skies and bright sunshine meant that we walked down to the harbour in a fantastic mood and boarded ‘She’s a Lady’.
Our captain Dave was fantastic, full of enthusiasm and happy for everyone on board to do as much or as little sailing as they wanted. I took advantage of the opportunity to lie down on the deck and soak up the warmth of the north island sunshine whilst Rich helped Dave hoist the sail before joining me.
Our boat trip took us round the outer islands, included a lunch stop where we could kayak, swim and walk and brought us back through the inner islands.
Everywhere we looked there were people out on the water enjoying the best of the weather and the views. Fishermen, parasailors, jet skiers, dolphin watchers and fellow sailors zig zagged around the vast open waters that make up the Bay of Islands.
As we sailed around the outer islands we saw tiny blue penguins bobbing around in the water, no more than thirty centimetres in height, and we topped up our love for dolphins as two bottle nose dolphins came swimming right next to the boat!
Lying in the sunshine on the deck it was easy to forget about the hustle and bustle of our backpacking lives. Listening to the waves lapping against the boat as we carved our way through the dark blue water was rhythmic and relaxing.
When we arrived at a sheltered bay for lunch, I didn’t want to move from the five foot seven inches of deck I was lay on. The lure of kayaking to work up an appetite raised me to my feet though and Rich and I headed off for a paddle in our ‘glass bottom’ kayaks.
We searched the shallow waters of the coastline in search of stingray but didn’t manage to spot one. It’s amazing how many rocks can look like stingray underwater though!
After half an hour of paddling between a couple of the islands, we headed to the beach for a picnic lunch. Lunch didn’t last long, we were hungry after our kayak and devoured the lunchtime spread in minutes before walking up to the top of the hill behind us.
Sat in our swimmers after lunch I wasn’t really up for walking barefoot to the top of a hill but the promise of exceptional views from Dave made me put one foot in front of the other. The effort was certainly worth it, we could see for miles in every direction with island after island dotted around the sea. One hundred and forty four islands make up the Bay of Islands, it’s a beautiful place that Rich and I would have loved to have spent days sailing around in the sunshine.
To cool off from our walk we took a refreshing swim back to the boat in the crystal clear turquoise waters. I was happy to return to lying on the deck whilst Rich assumed control of the boat at the wheel. We sailed for a couple of hours back to Paihia harbour, dreaming of owning our own boat one day.
Lambs on the loose 