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It was time to leave Auckland and head up north to the Bay of Islands. Many of the guidebooks state that north of Auckland is rarely explored by visitors so we wanted to take a few days up there to look around and see what it had to offer. It was a pretty long drive there but we had started early so when we arrived we had time to take in the Waitangi National Heritage site. We had no idea on arrival at the Bay of Islands that it is one of the most important places in New Zealand's history. It is at the Waitangi Heritage site that the missionaries first arrived and set foot on this part of New Zealand. They then set up home around the area and were instrumental in the composition and later signing of the peace treaty between the Maori people and the more recent white settlers. This treaty allowed our British monarchy and subsequent armies to protect the Maori people from the threat of war and theft of their lands. It went on to shape New Zealand and the relationships that are still existent today. It was really interesting to walk around the reserve and learn about Maori life before the arrival of the European and American settlers and then see how their arrival basically changed the Maori life forever. It took most of the afternoon to tour around but was really educational and made us feel like we had had our dose of New Zealand history for the week! After Waitangi we went to the supermarket for dinner supplies and then headed to our new campsite to get plugged in and make dinner. When we arrived dinner was temporarily put on hold when we spotted a large trampoline in the childrens play area. So like the big kids we really are we had a good half an hour jumping around and trying to take funny photos of ourselves, was one of the funniest things to see two grown adults with tears coming down their cheeks laughing at each other! I think it was mainly due to it being winter/spring over here and the northland being generally quieter anyway but the campsite was eerily quiet. There were less then half a dozen people milling around and with toilet blocks set up to house over 100 people it was the spookiest facility I have ever used! With my overactive imagination I had to get Mike to come with me and wait outside every time I needed a wee (what a woose)! The next morning and unfortunately the weather was not on our side with big grey threatening clouds hovering above us. The plan for today was to go to the centre of Paihia and catch the ferry over to a town called Russell on the other side of the bay. We managed to get to town, catch the ferry and have some brunch in one of the beach front cafes before it started to rain. We are never too bothered with a bit of rain so we put on our mac in a sacs and had a walk around the town. We visited the first ever catholic church in New Zealand and took in some of the shops and charming winding streets. They say in New Zealand that when it rains over here it really rains and boy were they right! The rain was coming down in buckets, we were soaked and felt we had seen all that Russell had to offer so we didn't need much persuasion to hop back on the ferry back to Paihia. Once back on the other side the rain had calmed a little so we had a brief look around some of the shops before heading back to the van and back to the campsite. We had lots of things to do on the internet and thought when better than on a miserable rainy afternoon so the rest of the day was spent reading and writing emails.
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