So Cairns flight to Brisbane,
a few hours then on board for 3 and half hours to Auckland, arriving at midnight. The All
Blacks Sevens (strapping healthy lads!), were on our flight sitting behind
us……. Sports science at the upper edge, they had oxygen masks the whole journey
and other things trapped to their legs that lit up obviously measuring or giving some treatment…………
Bit of a shock !Raining and cold…………… but never mind, expected the weather to
be different. The motel we stayed at they sent out a free shuttle to collect us after midnight and the room was large and had a kitchen, cost £35 !! Next morning our car hire company came to collect us and took us to their office…..car hire was very reasonable too.

Asked the girl in the car hire where was the cheapest place we could get anoraks or such……..it
was just round the corner so went and bought two blue cheapo anoraks and a big umbrella.
That came to £40 all in all!.....

First impressions were “hey I’m back in England”! driving through initially the suburbs of Auckland
till we reached the main road it was just like an English suburb.

Auckland we drove through fairly quickly, a city by the sea and it all looked very neat.
The highway north wasn’t like a highway but just a normal road, it took us
through undulating lush green farmlands and forests, it was a “keep your wits
about you” road, with tight hairpin bends and sharp drops, steep hills, coming every so often to villages with handful of shops, Tom always spying the
Bakeries as he seem to have developed a fixation on Pies! Aussie and NZ bakeries all sell Pies!



A few hours and time for a tea stop at a cute historic Bohemian village off the highway.


Our destination was Paihia, by the coast and the staging point for the Bay
Of Islands.


Our motel was Casa Bella, a hacienda type low level motel. We were amazed at our room as it was gleaming, now gleaming isn’t a word you’d use for a room, but the adjective is correct, everything in it gleamed, the kitchen, the bathroom everything shone back at me! We really liked it so spacious.

A walk around the corner from the motel was the beautiful view across the bay towards the
144 islands……
one of those views where you turn a corner and get caught out by what ahead and go WOW ! ……
Paihia was a big village by the sea that catered for spring boarding everyone on various
trips off to the islands or further north.


So off we got to buy a boat trip………..bonus the next days one was reduced and they threw
in a ferry ticket as well so you could get off on and island on the way back and get a later ferry. As I’m not one for sea trips in rocky waters I checked the weather first………..mill pond the guy said and sunny!

The boat trip was four hours , 144 islands and we covered a fair few but not all. Met a group of dolphins on route. The highlight was going out to one small island outcrop with a the blow hole on the pacific ocean edge of the Bay of Islands, which the boat went through, seeing the hole on approachit wasn’t that big and it didn’t look as if the boat would fit through…………




Some days they go through others they don’t depends on the seas, so through we
went…..great drama ………..and the photo opportunity of course.




Tom and I decided to get off at Russell, a small quaint historic sea front full of cafes and shops, all rustic white wooden colonial buildings. We wandered for an hour visiting what I thought was going to be an old colonial house as that’s what it looked like but inside it was the oldest print works in New Zealand,


It was a mission, where they had translated works into Maori. I could see tom wasn’t that interested, as he went thru it quick but I found it quite fascinating as the building went from the tanning and curing of the leather, the typefacing and book binding techniques and the leather coverings…………&# 8230;but it was odd there was no guide book and no one in there or the gardens, we paid at the gate and then we in there all alone for the whole time never saw anyone.

It was getting windy by then so we headed for the ferry and a small choppy ride in a tiny boat back to Paihia. Leave Paihia tomorrow.

The journey from Paihia was a re tracing of steps back to Auckland and then across the plains towards the east coast.

Gale force winds they said, and showers……….yes we encountered it all but also sunshine. The plains were lush dairy farmlands.

Cows galore………..and more………I’ve never seen so many cows………...remember
the days folks when we saw lots of cows in England, black and white cows? Where
are they all, I guess Europe has killed off our dairy farming industry, because my childhood memories are that we had lots of cow’s.

New Zealand cows are back to normal English cows.
The Aussie Queensland cows were Brahmans, they had big humps on their backs and
big long floppy ears, imported as they coped well with the heat and flies.

Can’t wait to get some ice cream as we’ve already spied Dairy’s in the high streets as we drove through.

Well we are at Waihi beach, Bowentown, a lovely spot, the sand is like silica and white.

We have attempted to walk on the beach (in our new anoraks) but the winds are battering
and we got rather sand blasted so returned to our cabin which was brand new and spacious.







Toms got Steeley Dan’s new release Sunken Condo’s (not to be
missed , he says !!!???) and is awaiting dinner………….gues s what……….well I’ve got some gravy especially so we can have
pots, cabbage and yes toms got pies!!

Half past six now time for a glass of wine. The weathers
howling a gale outside, pelting with rain, thankfully we got those anoraks, but we are due better weather and sun tomorrow and the forescast is on the up.

Wine beckons…………R 30;……xxxxx