Captain Bob's Beachhouse Paihia

Yesterday Kayla and I did the kayak tour of the bay. It was chilly getting into the kayak, sticking your feet in the water and all! We went around the main island off paihia beach (that is not the official name, it is some complicated maori name), where we stopped on a beach for a cup of tea and to search for some shells. Our guide, Rick, showed us a "ring" he had which was actually a seashell that had washed up. We had a look around, Kayla had all the luck, I didn't find any. Then we went to...

After my scuba excursion, I drove up to a nice little town called Paihia. Paihia is located right on the coast of the Bay of Islands. The Bay is amazing. There are something like 144 islands in this one little place. I decided that the best way to really see the Bay was by boat, so I booked a daytrip on a sailboat called the Gungha. It was a really cool little boat owned by a man who takes out tourists in the summer in New Zealand and then sails over to Fiji for the rest of the year. The boat...

We picked up our hire car in Auckland on Thursday and were amazed that we'd got a 2 year old Suzuki Swift (bright orange!) and we're now fighting over who gets to drive it. We drove up to the Bay of Islands along all the winding roads and eventually got to Paihia (after spending ages trying to pronounce it we found out its actually pronounced Pie-here!) We'd booked 2 nights at Captains Bob's Beach House and planned to go back to Auckland on Saturday, however when we got here and saw how beaut...

Did the 11.00am cruise around the fiord... best scenery yet! Very lord of the rings-esque. 1500m mountains which drop straight into the sea with waterfalls and seal colonies on the surrounding rocks.. got some good pics so ill put them on asap. Apparently its the 4th rainiest place on earth so we got very lucky as you can see was a good day and we went for a few short walks to the mirror lakes and 'chasm' (a waterfall/canyon) in the afternoon, before driving to Te Pui in the evening. Stayed i...

Wow. This town is really nice. Set amongst the beautiful Bay of Islands. Green bush rolling down to clean sand and clear water. Our accommodation was tops. Terrific views from the lounge room across the ocean. Met a nice couple from Germany who shared the secrets of Pisco Sour from their South American adventures. Recommend Captain Bobīs backpackers to anyone. Tomorrow we are off to see Cape Reinga and 90 mile beach.

Our trip out of Auckland saw us crossing the harbour bridge before taking a long, but rather spectacular detour towards Cape Reinga. Realising as we drove along, stopping often to admire the view, just how short our time on the North Island was, in conjunction with what we wanted to see, we decided to reroute directly to The Bay of Islands. Exhausted in the early evening, we arrived in Whangerai to our first proper experience of backpackers, New Zealand style. We toyed with the idea of divin...

Captain Bobs Hostel We travelled up north to the Bay of Islands which is a beautiful (and hot) area of New Zealand. We had tried originally to book there as it is where alot of people go for New years but could not find any available hostels. HOWEVER one of the hostels that had originally said they were booked up got back to Kelly saying the owner was Scottish and said he would find space which was cool. The hostel was lovely, balconies, living room and frinedly staff New Years Eve This was a...

We spent the day hung over sitting in a tiny park, or rather a piece of grass by the river in Whangarei after checking out by 10 and waiting til 4.30 for a bus to Paihia.We bumped into Hannah who was feeling much better than us and was getting a later bus to Paihia too. We slept all the way there, luckily waking up just before we had to get off. We checked into Cap'n Bobs Beach House hostel just round a headland from the main touristy bit of Paihia which is the gateway to the Bay of Islands. ...