Bay of Islands, New Zealand

We had never heard of Bay of Islands so we had no idea what to expect. (Hannah sorry, I hope you hadn’t already drawn a line to Tonga your map). We couldn’t find much information on this stop, except for the tours that were available.  The first tour offered stopped at a missionary’s house, with a second stop for a cup of tea, followed by a self guided tour for the afternoon. I never could figure out why you would pay for a self guided tour – can’t you just take a cab or bus to the destination and save 150 bucks? I don’t know the protocol for sure, but for me at least, on a self guided tour, unless I do an exceptionally good job, I am not even going to tip.  More money saved.  Option two for this stop was a glow worm cave and Puketi Kauri Forest. Now we might have opted for that but apparently the glow worms are camera shy, as no pictures were allowed. That left option three, “Waltang Estuary by Sea Kayak”. You kayak up to, and if you wish, through Haruru Falls. As the hiking, biking backpacking set seemed to be the ones that truly love New Zealand, I figured this “back to nature” tour should be our choice. We could enjoy, up close and personal, wildlife and scenery as viewed from our Kayaks. I like kayaking and often do it on summer vacation trips. Jim however has never put his bottom in a kayak. Because of his hip, and several other cement-like joints, I really couldn’t see him being able to struggle in and out of the thing. We decided to attend the port lecture and then settle on what we wanted to do after that.  We learned that, who else but Captain Cook named the Bay of Islands. That man did get around the South Pacific!  We discovered that New Zealand has lots of birds. It is known for the world’s largest, flightless parrot as well as for their Kiwis .  It has a rich history, much of which depicted the native tribe, the Maori, as not being treated particularly well.  However, they like to tell the story of when some early European explorers (not Capt. Cook) stopped at Bay of Islands for supplies. After the Maori loaded the goods, the explorers reneged on paying them, and threw them overboard – even shooting some as they swam for shore. Shortly after departing the explorer’s ship sank and the crew had to swim back to shore. As they were swimming toward land I suspect, in hindsight, they were regretting their earlier actions. The Maori were awaiting them - none lived to explore again. When she finished her lecture, Jim hobbled up there to ask if she thought we could handle the Kayaking tour or if we should just rent a car. She didn’t seem to encourage either. She did recommend this shuttle/ ferry/ train/ bus expedition (I don’t think a plane was involved) that sounded like a very complicated, albeit interesting, way to see the north island of New Zealand.  If we make all the proper connections, and arrive back to Paiha before the ship departs I will let you know my thoughts on Kiwi country tomorrow.