It was a bright and sunny day in Paihia which is a sea side town, and out motel looked right onto the beach. However, was no time to sit & enjoy the view, we were off on a boat tour where we were promised sightings of dolphins & possibly seals and whales too! We were also promised waves and rain as it was forecast to get stormy later

The boat tour took us round the bay of islands. Altogether there are 140 different islands, many formed by volcanic eruptions. One of the most famous is called the Hole in the Rock and, as the name suggest it is a giant rock with a hole in it! Many of the islands have white sandy beaches to go with the turquoise blue sea - of it wasn't for the wind and rain it could have been paradise!

Lunch on an island was included, the sun was still shining but it the wind was cold so the hot soup was very welcome! We had a short walk along the beach & played on a rope swing, it then started to rain as we boarded the boat again.
Unfortunately we didn't get to see any Dolphins, whales or seals on the trip. However that does mean we get a free trip next time we're in paihia!

We then made our way down to whangarai where we stopped at a waterfall before driving along to coast to whangarai head. On one side of the road was the ocean, on the other was high mountains with jagged tops, formed as the lava cooled & as since been weathered. We walked along the beach at whangarai head and up a steep sand dune at the end of the beach, at the top there was just a small ledge before a cliff drop down to another beach. Even though it was cold, wet and windy we sat watching the waves enjoying the peace until it started to get dark

It was then a 4 hour drive home, much of which was through torrential rain. the highlight though was stopping for Pizza Hut just north of Auckland. Their 10inch pizzas are only $5 out here - that's £2.40 for what would be £10 in the UK!