We have had a lovely last few days in our camper van up in Paihia in the Bay of Islands. We drove from Matamata, along and past Auckland on one of the two motorways in New Zealand and up to the north of the North island.

We stopped along the way to utilise the free wifi at McDonald's and arrived to Paihia just in time before the tourist information office shut to book a boat trip for the following day.

That evening Sally and I took a walk along the seafront and through the town. It is a very pretty and peaceful place, it was really nice to be able to sit by the coast again.

On Saturday we took our catamaran boat trip around the Bay of Islands. Apart from us there were only 8 other tourists on the boat, so we had a lot of space. Part of the trip was to go dolphin spotting and about an hour into sailing we found a group of bottle nose dolphins. Sometimes you get the opportunity to get in and snorkel with them. We were told you can't get in if the dolphins are sleeping, eating, shovelling, travelling, hunting, mating, with a baby dolphin or resting (different to sleeping). Unfortunately we saw them when they were travelling so were moving too fast that if we stopped the boat and got in they would have already moved on. However, we said we don't really know what else dolphins do so we can't see an opportunity when you could ever get in! We followed the dolphins for some time and they came so close to the boat and would scratch on the side of it. They were playing and doing huge jumps out of the sea, it was really great that we got the opportunity to see wild dolphins so close up. They were really difficult to get a good picture of though. Eventually the skipper decided to carry on with our journey as the dolphins began to dive down deeper and resurface less, showing that they had had enough of us.
As it was a sailing boat the deckhand used the four of us to pull up the main sail, although we were a little useless! We sailed for a while until we stopped at Uropukapuka island, the largest of the islands in the bay. We were taken in a little dinghy to the shore and went on a quick walk up a massive hill to get some great views across the bay and down the channel we had just sailed through. It was really peaceful and beautiful. There was also an option to go snorkelling here but everyone thought it was a bit too cold to get in the water.

We came back to the boat for our nice BBQ lunch before sailing back around the islands. There are some really impressive houses and private island homes that looked amazing. I'd love to have a look around them! Harrison Ford recently stayed at one apparently for about NZ$20,000 a night (a little over £10,000!)

We passed Matuarohia island, also known as Robertson island where Robinson Crusoe first landed before sailing onto Australia, and we also saw New Zealand's smallest penguins. They are so small around the size of a flip flop and spend their lives at sea, they don't even look like penguins.

As we got off the boat, the rain started once again so we had a hot chocolate and a look around the small town.
As we were by the sea we decided to spend our last rainy night in the camper with fish and chips!

Today we are driving back down to Auckland to drop the camper van back off.
I think the Bay of Islands has been my favourite place on the north island. It is really pretty and green, peaceful and has great views. Plus I think we all really enjoyed seeing the dolphins so close the day before.

The camper van has been a good way to see the country and do what we want. We have been able to go to places we wouldn't have if we had used public transport to get around. However, at times it had been difficult. It is a small space for four people for so long and the extensive driving can become tiring at times, especially as at the end of a long day driving, you just sit in the car all night, it is quite intense. Also we have a lot of stuff between the four of us so space has been a bit tight. Things were also made a bit more tough by the bad weather we have encountered. I will be glad not to be getting changed in a field for a while! Plus i do t think my legs can take anymore mosquito or sandfly bites! On the whole we are glad we have done it and as I said before, really got to see as much of New Zealand as we could and will appreciate a hostel for a change for our last few nights here.

All the constant travelling we have done here has made time fly by, I can't believe another month has gone by! But we still have over two weeks to go and enjoy!

Amy. x