The drive up to the Bay of Islands was a good drive - as soon as you get out of auckland there is no one around although there are a lot of road works. The senery is great an your never sure whats around the next corner.

We arrived about 4 (the sun goes down at about 5) and settled into our camper we noticed that the campervan sites a well equiped with all the facilities needed and so all we really need from the van was a bed.

After a good nights sleep we woke early (9 am is early when yoru on holiday!!! ) and we had aranged to sea fishing. the captain was a very knowlegable person and after a quick demo off we set. We were aiming for red snapper and athough both me and jem caught one they were not big enough however Jem managed to catch 3 and I caught 2. the captain caught 2 huge snapper and the other couple caught the same as us. All in all it was a good trip as it was great fun and after they had filleted the fish we had enough food to keep us going for a few days.

The next day we went for a nice walk along the beach and saw a hermit crap swap its shell in the rock pools. In the afternoon took a jet boat tour around the islands and went to the 'hole in the rock' a natural tunnel through one of the rocks which the boat went though(see picture).

All in all the bay of islands was a good place to spend the first couple of days and had a good range of activites. However the next jurney was going to take 6 hours so Jem woke me up early and of we drove to the Bay of Plenty.