Bay of Islands
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2005
1
28
65
Trip End
May 11, 2006
Paihia - Photos added,
New Zealand
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
As the name implies, the Bay of Islands is a large bay spotted with islands, some one hundred and forty four. I got to visit just a few of them in my time here.
The weather in Auckland hasn't been too fantastic so it was a relief to get some sunshine when I reached the bay of islands on the 17th. Sunday was really hot, the sky were clear blue, and the sea a deep turquoise; the view across the bay looked fantastic.
New Zealand is a massive backpacker destination and the hostels are really up to scratch. The one I stayed in in Paihia has ensuite dorms, a kitchen, small swimming pool, hot tub, laundry, sky TV, internet, BBQ, free bike hire, and most importantly a bar. I've met lots of people in the bar here, one dutch girl who I'm going to meet up with in Taupo for Christmas. There's loads of English people here as well.
Since going down to the docks in Auckland and looking at some of the amazing sail boats there I've been wanting to get back into doing a bit of sailing again. Bay of Islands is the perfect place for it with lots of companies offering sailing cruises. I found one that organises a days sailing on a 26m long, 60 tonn tall ship, the R. Tucker Thompson. It sounded perfect. The weather changed dramatically from the day before, I awoke to grey skies, heavy wind, and rain.
01-The Tucker
Great. We set off on the Tucker at 10am with it raining hard. The first part of the journey was done under motor. It rained all the way and we were quickly soaked through.Lunch is normally a BBQ cooked on deck, with the weather the way it was there was no way this was happening. We ate lunch below deck and drank wine to warm us up. After lunch we set off again, this time under sail. Excellent. Although the weather was bad the wind was high which made for better sailing. We all helped to set the sails, some of them taking 4 people to hoist. With 3 sails set were moving quite fast for a boat of that size and soon enough one side of the boat started to submerge as the wind in the sails pushed us over. It was quite something in a ship of that size, when stood on the windward size you were high above the submerged side.
Not being able to afford a 3 day sailing cruise I opted for an overnight cruise on a backpackers boat. An old car ferry striped and gutted with dorm rooms added on. I had a few hours after getting off the Tucker to get all my stuff ready for 5pm. After we had all boarded the boat and settled into our rooms we did some target shooting, shooting at a bottle dragged behind the back of the boat. We reached our anchor point in a small sheltered bay around 7pm, shortly after fishing rods were out. Although remembering how to fish from younger, I caught nothing. What was caught and was big enough to keep was cooked on the BBQ for dinner.
After dinner and night fall kayaks were put into the water at the back of the boat and we headed off into the pitch black following our guide. The water is full of phosphorescence that light up when moved in the water. Every time your paddle hits the water the whole thing glows. Swimming in it is even more amazing, one of the coolest things I've done. While we were out kayaking, fish were jumping everywhere: in front of us, into us, into the boats. I think they were the ones I didn't catch just trying to rub it in. I'll get you yet Nemo. The next day we boated across to an island. We climbed up the hill to the top where we got some nice views of the bay and the island itself, was almost like two island connected my a tiny strip of sand. We snorkeled in a small cove on the island and dove for muscles and sea urchins which the guys later cut open on the back of the boat and we yamed down raw. Not sure I'm taken by these yet. Texture sloppy, favour like salt water. Who's idea was it to start eating these?
I bought a disposable camera while I was in the Bay of Islands, I'll hopefull get the pictures up soon.
