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Happiness Is The Road
After brekky we went to have another look at Russell. After a very cold night the temperature was now nicely warming up and the sky was a gorgeous deep blue. We first of all went to a little bay, Tapeka Point, on the other side of the peninsula that Russell sits on. We drove through the outskirts of Russell with it's pretty houses and descended into a gob smackingly gorgeous and tranquil little bay. We had a walk along the beach and soaked up the peaceful atmosphere. A little way down the beach some ducks joined us on our Sunday morning mooch. There was mummy duck, daddy duck and their four cute little ducklings going for a stroll together. At one point they all waddled out into the gentle waves that were lapping the shore. Mummy and daddy led the way out with the little duckings being bobbed back and forth on the waves. They were having a happy time just like us. It was such a lovely sight to see. From here we drove into Russell and explored some more. Russell was laid back and super chilled. There was a huge cruise ship moored just off the coast. It very much looked like the Celebrity X ship that we had seen in Sydney. We then drove out of Russell and to the car ferry to take us over the water to Paihia. It was a lot quicker taking the car ferry than driving round. Paihia was the complete opposite of Russell. Whilst Russell was quaint and laid back Paihia was super commercialised and mad busy. It was manic with people everywhere and not our type of place. We drove through without stopping. We came to Waitangi a bit further up the coast which was a lot calmer. We found a lovely place to have lunch on a coastal hill with an incredible view of the Bay of Islands but we were now both bursting for a pee! There were no toilets anywhere to be found so we ended up having to drive back into Paihia. Two quick piddles later we were out of there again and back to our incredible Bay of Islands view on the hill in Waitangi. We got our chairs out and had a lovely lunch whilst soaking up the sun and the awesome vista. It was all peace and lovely tranquility when mid sandwich a bus load of American tourists turned up. We knew this because they were very loud and the bus said 'Cruise Ship Shuttle Bus' on the front. They were gone within two minutes but one of them got so close to our personal space it was just plain rude. Luckily we got out of there just before the next bus arrived. We hit the road after this with the intention of staying the night at Matauri Bay. It had been recommended to us by one of the nice guys at the Whangarei camp site and Lonely Planet said that it was a world away from the glitzy face presented for tourists in the Bay of Islands. It sounded much more like our sort of place. The scenery on the journey there was fairly nondescript but just before we got to Matauri Bay we rounded a corner on the headland and saw a beautiful picturesque bay. We both went WOW. It is quickly becoming apparent that New Zealand is rammed chock full of wows. The road wound it's way down to the bay with some hair pin bends. We checked in at the camp site which was right on the beach and we got a spot literally six feet away from the sand. We had a spectacular uninterrupted sea view and it was bliss. This was possibly the best camper van view we have had on the whole adventure. We had a walk along the beach, we paddled in the sea and we also walked up a hill next to the camp site to take in the view. The only drawback here was the set up in the showers. It was almost a repeat of the Zebra Rock Mine camp site in the Northern Territory in Australia. The amenities block was very clean but there was nowhere to undress/dry/dress in privacy. Each shower cubicle had a curtain but there was no room inside for your stuff. There was just a communal bench in the middle. This was horrible and disgusting. I don't want to be subjected to other men wapping a towel around their dangly bits and throwing their smeggy undies on the bench when I go for a shower. It's just not very nice and has the potential to put me right off my tea. Neither of us had a shower but each time we went for a wee we had to run the gauntlet of coming face to face with someone's rancid offering. Even with the shower situation we liked it here because the view and the absolute beach frontage made up for it. We went to sleep to the soothing sound of the waves hitting the shore.
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