Day 5 - Tue 16 Oct

Cow crossing

Started the day on the backroads .. an unsealed, winding, muddy, narrow road over the hills. Good timing for Em's first shot behind the wheel. The views were breathtaking though. Stopped on a windswept (and that's not just a figure of speech) hill to take some photos. On the way down the other side we had to stop when we found ourselves faced with a herd of cows coming the other way. This turnoff was meant to join back up to the main road after about 8 km but it seems we took a wrong branch somewhere. So we ended up instead taking a long shortcut across to Kaikohe passing the edges of the Marlborough and Mataraua Forests. Cut off a big loop around Omapere, Opononi and the Hokianga Harbour. Definitely a scenic route though .. another one of those adventures.

Stopped in for some lunch and a few provisions in Kaikohe ("The Hub of the North"), then continued East, over towards the Bay of Islands via Ngahwa, Ohaeawai, Puketona and Haruru. As we reached the coast and started to wind around the bays, some of the views were outstanding.

As we drove into Paihia we passed the Zorbing hill. Stopped in to watch a few people roll down the hill in a big rubber ball. We decided not to bounce. We then continued into Paihia proper. This is very different to the West Coast - tourist central. People all over the place. Tour operators, information booths, photo developing .. the evil $. We found it quite a shock after the very unspoiled West.

It's another Paihia sunset

There is, however, a lot to see in this area, and the coastlines and bay are beautiful. And there are many options to see it, as we discovered when we stopped in at the information bureau. "Cruises? Well, do you want the four hour or the six hour tour?" (My question about three hour tours went straight over her head). "OK, well do you want the one with the island stopoff, the cultural greetings, or the swimming with dolphins? Now, is that the swimming with dolphins as part of a tour? Or a dedicated swimming with dolphins trip?" Phew. We booked a tour (Four hour tour with swimming with dolphins option) for tomorrow morning, then went to check in to our chosen holiday park. Another excellent choice, with sites directly on the channel. Waterfront accommodation again -- wish we could live like this in Sydney!

Seagull

For dinner we caught the ferry across to Russell .. about a 20 minute ferry ride in the put-put boat. Had dinner in a very nice restaurant called Sally's, and got talking to an English couple named Erika and Peter (we think). Swapped tales of our trips so far, as well as talking theatre, New York, etc. Erika performs and teaches musical theatre and has toured around the UK with shows. Got so involved talking we only just made the last (10 pm) ferry back to Paihia for the night.