We drove on a race course highway to get to Kawakawa Bay, on the way to the Bay of Island. The roads are really winding and do not allow you room to move over to stop and take pictures, which is very unfortunate because, I saw a cow that was brown at both ends and had a white ring around the middle, it was a very unusual looking cow, it was in a pasture all by itself. Maybe the other cows wouldn't play with it.
Something we have noticed since we have been to New Zealand, is the vast difference between the Aborigines and the Maori...you do not see the Maori littering the streets and parks (or any public place for that matter) with their drunken bodies. They all seem to have jobs, they act like regular people, they are very productive and don't appear to have a chip on their shoulder. There are many of them in the tourist industry and they are very eager to tell you about their culture and show off their beautiful country. They are indeed a proud people and we are really happy to have been able to meet so many.
We ended our journey at the end of the Bay of Plenty at the Beachcomber Motel at Kawakaw Bay. What a shame we weren't here in the summer, it is an absolutely beautiful spot and the motel is right on the ocean. We could watch the sea in the comfort of our king size bed. Unfortunately, we had much more to see so could only stay one night.
We made it to Whangarei, the home of only 7 golf courses. Needless to say, we stayed for two nights. The first place we went to was the Whangarei Golf Course and this is what I saw:
Rhododendron in full bloom at this time of year. It was a balmy 16 degrees but this would normally be our December. I was impressed!
I spent the 16th in bed while Dalton golfed. A serious cold or flu coming on and I don't want to be having problems when we have to fly home. The ears take a real beating when there is congestion involved. An ounce of prevention you know...
We left the morning of the 17th and travelled to Russell which is in the Bay of Islands, it was once known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific"...the days of rowdy whalers and drunken sailors are now well in the past and today Russell offers one of the most romantic holiday experiences in the country... We are staying at the Triton Suites and we have a huge spa in our bathroom, we wanted to check out the theory but it is so damned cold in our room that neither one of us want to take our clothes off. Oh well, we will take their word for it.
We took a tour of the Bay of Islands on a big catamaran, we came upon a couple large pods of dolphins and three young ladies decided they wanted to swim with them. The water here is 16 degrees, way too cold for us, however, we did enjoy the dolphins:
They were just swimming around without a care in the world
They are certainly graceful when they are swimming but they are spectacular when they jump
When they were right behind the boat they were leaping as high as the rails
Just one more
This is called "The Hole in the Rock", I bet you can't guess why!
The boat we were on
This is the Ferry they put us on to take us back to Russell, we would have been the only passengers on the big boat so we just transferred, we got free hot chocolate and a trip on a Ferry that is soon to be decommissioned. The woman in the black is the Skipper
This is a shot of Russell from Flagstaff Hill, it is a lovely place
very picturesque
Russell from the ocean side
We had a lovely time today, winding down now with a Chinese take out dinner. Maybe we will watch a little Footy, it will have to be the "All Whites" they are heroes on this side of the world.
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