Day 21 - Thursday 25 January 2024

Today I have the very first excursion I booked for the whole trip; the Bay of Islands Cream Cruise ..... so named as it used to be the boat that picked up all of the fresh milk from the farms on the islands, then they started taking tourists, and now there is no milk and just tourists.

No rush this morning; I needed to be at the cruise office at 09:30, and was there a bit early ..... so a coffee and a bit of a wait until the boat started boarding at 09:45 for a 10:00 departure. All aboard ('the skylark' for those of the correct age to remember) and I grabbed a seat on the top deck as it looked like a nice day. 

Sun cream liberally applied, we were ready to depart early but apparently that's frowned upon, so at 10:00 on the dot we first crossed the bay to the town of Russell through a flotilla of sailing boats. The Bay of Islands is stunningly beautiful; rolling hills meeting the water with 144 islands poking above the waves. The definition of island in these parts is a rock on which something not of the sea grows, so seaweed doesn't count!

This morning the boat was half empty, so we had the chance to move around and get shots with nobody in the way, but we were due to pick up the back end of another tour after lunch. The morning basically entailed touring around the bay and hearing about the history of the islands, the Maori who lived here, and the effect of the arrival of the Europeans. This is somewhere else Captain Cook and The Endeavour visited; I do seem to be tracking their steps at the moment.

Rather than bore you with a meaningless list of islands seen, I'll let the pictures do the talking!

For lunch, we stopped at Otehei Bay where there was a restaurant and bar. We had an hour and three quarters here, so I had a beer and then went and found the hiking trails. About 20 minutes bought me to the top of a hill, and the views were just spectacular; I just stood at the summit for a half hour just drinking it in. I don't think I've ever been anywhere else quite like this; it really was stunningly beautiful.

Back to the boat after lunch, and all of a sudden it felt very crowded. We left Otehei Bay and entered the South Pacific in search of dolphins. We hugged the coast along the Cape Brett Peninsula, and in Deep Water Cove we found them; a small pod of 4 or 5 bottlenose dolphins played around the front of the boat. Space was at a premium, so I tried to get video shots where I could; at least I saw them even if it were fleetingly.

After about 15 minutes with the dolphins, we moved on to the Cape Brett Lighthouse, and the 'Hole in the rock', called Motukokako in the Maori language. 

We sat for a while watching the waves pass through the hole while our skipper judged whether he was going to be able to pass through. I thought that there was absolutely no way, then we suddenly accelerated and the next thing we know we were passing through. There are two things that are abundantly clear; I'm not in the UK any more where the health and safety brigade would put a stop to all fun, and the Kiwi attitude of adventure and JFDI (just 'kin do it).

The next task was to try to find some Common dolphins, so we went about 2 miles further out into the South Pacific and across the bay, but no Common dolphins were seen. At around 16:00 it was announced that the staff would be coming round with consent and waivers for something called 'boon-netting' where a net is stretched along the side of the boat on booms and folks jump in while the boat moves. This wasn't something for me as I hadn't bought my swimming togs on this trip, but it did look like the folks involved had a lot of fun.

Then it was time to make our way back to Pahia via a drop off at Russell. A bite to eat, and then into the blog and vlog to see what footage I have.

The plan for tomorrow is the second part of my combo here in the Bay of Islands, and a trip north to the top of New Zealand.