After a night in a service station on our way up North we arrived at Whangerei where there was apparently one of the most spectacular waterfalls in NZ....It didnt let us down so within minutes we'd changed and were swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls! After climbing our way up the path to the top Rich was quick to spot a rope swing into the river at the top of the falls and was soon joining in with the local mauoris seeing how high he could swing! He was not so keen to join in when they started jumping off tree branches from the 10 metre tree towering above us! After a day of playing in the river, we set off for the bay of islands. On our way to the bay of islands we jumped on the car ferry across to Russell, where we planned on spending valentines day.
valentines day started with the opening of our $5 presents, and then a white knuckle speedboat ride out to the hole in the rock. It started out with us showing off, flinging our arms in the air and picking the two front seats. However within 20mins we realised why everyone else was sat at the back... to say it was choppy is an understatement as we were clinging on for dear life! Once we had made it to the hole in the rock and giant rock cathedral, the nutter of a boat driver drove us inside the cave and when we came out our decision to not wear the rain jackets was a very poor one! After some unsucessful fishing from Richard as he had a big fish on the end but it broke the line, we headed back to the port via some of the most beautiful islands ever!
That evening Richard had booked us into a Thai restaurant for valentines day which reminded us so much of the good memories of thailand...chang beer and all! After a gorgeous 3 course meal and a couple of glasses of wine too many at the village pub we waddled back to the campsite we had treated ourselves to as it was a special occasion!
The next day we were sad to say goodbye to Russell but very excited to see Eric in Auckland!