Happy to leave our overnight accommodation in Warkworth, we left early with the intention of having breakfast at McDonalds in Whangarei. Our mistake was to stop off at the iSite (Information Centre) in Whangarei, we just wasted time and felt we knew a lot more than our male customer service assistant, just frustrating. (Tip for travellers in NZ, women are so much more helpful and informative than men at all the iSites we have visited. We really should have driven directly to Paihia.)
Anyway, we will learn from our mistakes, at least the wifi was good at McDonalds allowing us to catch up with emails and post some long overdue blog entries.
The rest of the trip up the peninsular, while not as mountainous as the Coromandel, was just as beautiful although I was surprised that it did not appear to be heavily farmed. Going north in the Southern Hemisphere is the same as going south in the Northern i.e. getting warmer. However the landscape appeared to be similar to the Scottish uplands with lots of sheep and beef with only a few dairy farms. Perhaps it is the soil type or the fact that the land is only a few kilometres between coastlines so gets limited protection from coastal storms.
Arrived in Paihia around 1.30pm we found our female iSite assistant very knowledgeable and armed with leaflets we were off to check out a local B&B. We were warmly greeted by Walter from Norway who eagerly showed us round the accommodation which had a small lounge area with TV and a fridge that worked so we booked 3 nights at a bargain rate.
Cash is king for many B&Bs so off to a local ATM and to the iSite to book a half day trip round some of the islands (this is The Bay of Islands after all) and a day trip to Cape Reinga (the top of North Island).
The slow start to the day had left us frustrated and in an effort to make the most of the remainder of the day we caught the ferry to Russell, the first capital of New Zealand. The town has a number of firsts including the oldest church and the first licensed pub (Duke of Marlborough)
We climbed the hill to reach a lookout point to see good views over the town only to find that the flagpole there had played a pivotal role in the early history of New Zealand. Shortly after the signing of the Waitangi Treaty between Britain and the Maori tribes a signal flagpole was erected in 1840. However due to a misunderstanding the pole was cut down and replaced a number of times before a lasting peace could be established.
The view from the vantage point over some of the 144 islands and the town of Russell was well worth the effort as did the sense of history.
Caught the 6.00 pm ferry back to Paihia, shared a large tasty pizza at 'Frankies' washed down with Savignon Blanc.
Back to the B&B, finding ourselves hooked into old 'Benidorm' reruns on the TV while writing up the blog. And so to bed.