It was a beautiful fresh and sunny morning! We were hoping to see a little more of what Whangareri had to offer before heading onto the Bay of Islands for our stay over New Years. I had a feeling the campsites may well be pretty busy so we thought maybe we should try book one sooner rather than later. Thank god we did as we tried 2 campsites which were already full, one had availability but wanted 160 dollars, and we managed to nab the last space for two nights at the remaining campsite! Our luck was in!

After organising ourselves, we drove to the Whangarei Falls which was only a short walk to but beautiful all the same. It took us just over an hour to drive to Paihia- The Bay of Islands. It was a stunning day and the beach was bustling with people. We had both purchased our own set of snorkels as we planned to do quite a bit of underwater exploring over the next few weeks. We couldn't wait to get out there. When we asked about the best places to go, unfortunately the sea there was a tad muddy but we could catch a ferry out to one of the islands for great snorkelling sights! Perfect!

As there was no availability for that afternoon we planned to pack up a picnic and head out tomorrow with a full day ahead of us. We spent the rest of the day back at the gorgeous little campsite with our ciders and beers chilling in the sun whilst feeling quite smug watching cars come and go after being told the camp was full! We also booked our flight from the Philippines to Vietnam which was really exciting for us! I couldn't wait to see both those places and they sound incredible!

We enjoyed tomato and cheese pasta and got an early night ready for our day trip out the next day!! It was all so exciting!