Bay of Islands, sailing and not diving

Friday 27 March Sunny and warm 22C drove 124km

We had to leave paradise today. It was very tempting to stay another night in Coopers Beach, but we needed to move on. With the car packed, we headed south again on the SH10. We weren't planning going far, just down to the Bay of Islands.

The journey down to Whangaroa was familiar, but from then it was new territory again. The road was quite busy and was quite undulating. The views, particularly to the west, were very big. We started to pass through vast orchards of citrus fruit, apples, kiwis and passionfruit and shortly afterwards we dropped down into Kerikeri. This is a busy market town that has some of the oldest buildings in New Zealand in it. Down by the creek is a Stone House, somewhat unusual in NZ and next door a wooden mission house. Both were built by the earliest settlers. It was quite quiet at the wharf and very warm.

We had briefly thought about staying in Kerikeri, but decided to carry on down to Paihai and Russell to check out accommodation there. We had read that Paihai was rather touristy, so it was with some relief that we found the place quite quiet with plenty of good motels right on the sea front. We carried on to Opua and were lucky enough to drive straight onto the ferry across to Russell. Russell is a pretty town crammed into a small bay directly across from Paihai. We drove around and couldn't find any suitable rooms, so we headed back to Paihai and rapidly moved into the Abel Tasman motel located on the sea front.

As usual, we got a good deal with a kitchen, dining and lounge area with a separate bedroom with a a balcony and view looking out into the Bay of Islands. Additionally, we got free high speed wifi internet access.

Walking into town just 250 steps away along the sea front allowed us to look at some of the vessels plying the water here. Many of the them quite large and fast promising views of dolphins and trips to the 'Hole in the Rock', a sea arch. None of this appealled to us, so we booked to go out on a yacht all day tomorrow, then I tried, unsuccessfully, to arrange a dive on the Rainbow Warrior. The only chance to dive would have been Monday and in the end, a decision had to be made, Rainbow Warrior or Poor Knights Islands another day. Disappointing, but I've dived wrecks before whereas the islands are reckoned to be one the top ten dive sites in the world! Back at the motel, I managed to book two dives to the islands from Tutukawa on Tuesday. Fingers crossed for good weather!

The remainder of the day was spent enjoying our balcony and view from the motel.