Bay of Islands, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Paihia...
Mar 1, 2005 (2 photos)

... has been another good one. As I might have mentioned before, I used the website www.backpackerboard.co.nz for a number of months before I came to New Zealand. Well there is a superb message board on there with a lot of like minded people, and one of the ...

How to Kill a Fish in the Face
May 1, 2008 (5 photos)

... something really bad or you wouldnt fly in my face for 30 min straight. Freakin buzzing. Where was I? Oh right, the Bay of Islands! We arrived in the bay of islands shortly after leaving Pukenothing (Pukenui). We did a brief stopover in Matai bay which ...

Dolphins...
Mar 4, 2005 (3 photos)

The last couple of days have been real chill out days! On Wednesday I went on an all day cruise around the Bay of Islands which was very nice and relaxing. Unfortunately I didn't get to swim with the dolphins, but I saw plenty of them and it was great ...

Hills, Falls and Crutches
Dec 24, 2004

... , my ankle was throbbing. I had my phone on me and called Esther, who promptly told me to stop messing around. I burst into tears of pain and told her to come and help me. From the bottom I could hear Yannie calling me and from the top Esther. eventually ...

The end of the road in Paihia
Jan 28, 2005

... but hey that's life1 Then new year, I missed it in NZ, I fell asleep after working from 8am - 10.30pm. But I did hear new years in London the following after noon. The noise in the house was getting too much for me again so I started house hunting again, ...

The story continues
Dec 24, 2004 (5 photos)

... again, when we saw and advert for rooms to rent in a house, we phoned the number. I reached a man called Ed who asked a lot of very personal question-age, where were we from etc.. I thought this was a bit much so gave him a dose of his own medicen and ...

Back to the Bay-Again!
Dec 14, 2004 (5 photos)

... travels soon. It was a good night, as you can see from the photos. Esther and I had chosen to travel back to the Bay of Islands with Stray again. It was slightly more expensive than getting the bus, but only by a few dollars and it's a really good day ...

The adventure starts
Jul 1, 2006

Auckland - Pahia

3 is not a crowd
May 3, 2007

The next day after some much needed rest, we drove to The Bay of Islands. We went to see Harura Falls (much better than the Huka Falls), and found a campsite that costs only $15 a night, so we decided to take a couple of days to just hang out and relax, ...

Farewell to 'Pleasantville'
Jan 8, 2005 (18 photos)

... leave that for you to decide :-). The last week of our New Zealand leg was spent in the NorthLand. We spent New Year's at the Bay of Islands and had an awesome time with our friends from San Francisco. They had an awesome place rented in Opua with an ...

Paihia-still there
Oct 27, 2004 (3 photos)

... . Dean had carried my backpack for me and he and Scott saw me onto the bus, it was very hard saying goodbye to these two again. They bay was bathed in sunshine. Arriving in Auckland it was raining cats and dogs; maybe I should have taken this as a sign.

Screw the Man, Embrace the Tan
Jul 22, 2008

... all these honkey Mofo's around you'd think life would suck, but it doesn't. It just gets angry sometimes. And there's lots of straighforward, straight talking and generous people (some may be white) around to give you a sandwich at work...or tell ...

Week Thirty Seven - The Bay of Islands
Jun 29, 2004 (10 photos)

Week Thirty Seven - The Bay of Islands Day 240 - Tuesday 4 May A taxi drives me down to 'Base Backpackers' in the centre of town who have kindly agreed to store my backpack whilst I am up in The Bay of Islands. I have squeezed enough clothes to last ...

Cheese, chillies and chocolate
Jun 13, 2006 (1 photos)

... wasn't too traumatised so I think I get t keep my job. Kerikeri was lovely. It is home to two of the oldest buildings in New Zealand- a timber colonial house and a stone store, set up as it would have been 100 years ago. The traditionally made produce ...

Bay of Islands
Jan 15, 2006 (18 photos)

... After our four hour drive (thank God that I kept to the Left) up from Auckland we arrived in the beautiful area of the Bay of Islands in the North Island. We quickly found our hostel (for all of Amy's friends and family she actually agreed to stay in a ...

Bay of Islands
Apr 19, 2005 (10 photos)

Martin and I borrowed my sister's car and hit the road north of Auckland, heading for the Bay of Islands on the east coast. Martin is very happy to have a car with more "guts" than the rental as it makes passing on these twisty, turny roads a lot easier! ...

Bay of Islands
Sep 27, 2007 (31 photos)

... at the moment- hooray! Rather than sit around Auckland the whole time, I went up North with Jill to explore the beautiful Bay of Islands. We stayed in a funky little backpackers in Paihia called Captain Bob's. It was nice and quiet, and had a big balcony ...

Paihia - 1st October 2004
Oct 27, 2004 (2 photos)

Up with the birds again. I have decided to leave the Rock, more of a girlie than I thought. I need water and electricity. Dean had mentioned that the BBH hostel that he was staying in needed cleaners in return for accommodation, sounded perfect, so I spoke ...

Birth Place
Jan 18, 2007 (4 photos)

The Treaty of Waitangi, signed some 167 years ago, was seen as the founding of the nation of New Zealand when some 35 Maori Chiefs and a British representative signed the treaty marking New Zealand as a British colony. Despite the fact the treaty is still ...

It's nearly Christmas Day
Dec 24, 2004

... of a call. Thanks also for the e-mails, it great to hear What's going on back home. I do miss you all like crazy, but i'm still enjoying myself. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New year. Love you all lots. Big hugs and kisses to everyone.

Skydive!!!
Mar 7, 2005 (2 photos)

... time appears to fly...just like me! Once the parachute had opened, we soon passed through the clouds and I had a great view of the Bay of Islands. I imagine it would have been even better on a clear day, but that didn't matter to me as it was a great ...

Final Impressions of New Zealand
Dec 22, 2005

... -- so this is a wrapup of New Zealand before we get to what I've been up to in Sydney. The South Island of New Zealand, which I did a lap around two years ago, is visually stunning. There are beautiful lakes everywhere and snow-capped mountains pierce ...

Beautiful beaches, big trees, bad bread...
Nov 4, 2005 (6 photos)

... we named Silvie. She wasn´t nearly as powerful or as much fun to drive as Goldie, but got us up to the Bay of Islands by mid-afternoon. We took the vehicle ferry across to Russell, a pretty little village with plenty of history, built around a sheltered ...

A brief run down
Dec 24, 2004 (5 photos)

Hi all For anyone that was worried, I'm off of the crutches now and the ankle is much better, still a little weak. I am writing this on the 4th December 2004 and so much has happened it's going to be hard to remember it all. In the shopping mall there ...

28th September 2004-Paihia-the rock
Oct 8, 2004 (3 photos)

... the end. The rock was once a car ferry that has been converted into a strange looking boat that does 24 hour tours around the bay of islands. As I was trying to catch anything of off the back of the boat, when Paul shouted at us to look forward. As we did ...

Recovering from Driving Coma & Dolphin Watching
Jan 28, 2008 (10 photos)

... , sleepy town with some charming buildings. Next day we jumped on our tour boat, the Dolphin Seeker, for a full day in the Bay of Islands.  The boat was on the large side -- about 50 or so people were on the boat.  We chose the Kings tour ...

A few other bits
Jan 28, 2005

... Haruru Falls, so we stopped. As soon as I walked into the place I fell in love with it. There were sculptures all around, loads of pictures and arty stuff every where. A lady came out and asked if I needed any help, I had already picked up some lemon balm ...

Back one last time to Paihia
May 5, 2005 (9 photos)

... into the Marae (meeting house) The show covers the story of the arrival of Kupe, the first Maori chief to discover New Zealand, Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud) through to the present day. I really enjoyed the evening and at last I had seen ...

Sore Knees and Bees..
Oct 5, 2004 (14 photos)

... is Dean. Dean Bennett. We had rode back quite cautiously following the unfortunate accident and had pulled over to admire the view of the Bay just before reaching Paihia. We were stood talking and I had noticed a bee grazing mid-way down Dean's chest, ...

Long day driving to the Bay of Islands
Jan 27, 2008 (1 photos)

... repaired as well.  The sole was coming off from all our walking!  Then we pushed on up through Auckland and all the way up Highway 1 to Paihia (Bay of Islands).  It was a really long driving day.  We stayed at a holiday park in Paihia.