Thames to Paihia

Our journey then continued through Auckland to Warkworth. Here we had a quick stop off to do the Dome Walkway, which was a walk up the Dome hill through native forest, including our first sighting of the Nikau palm, the world's most southerly growing palm. It was a lovely, if knackering walk, with beautiful views over the valley, and past really interesting ferns and epiphytes. We continued on to Whangarei, where we had a quick peak at the picturesque falls there, before settling down for the night.

The next day we drove the short distance to Paihia, where we would be having a boat trip. After checking it was going ahead (it was) we headed off to the Haruru Falls Mangrove walk, which was supposed to be a boardwalk through, guess what, mangroves. Well, we didn't have time for all of the walk, and the part we did do wasn't through the mangroves. However, the views of the estuary were nice and the trees were quite gnarled and interesting. Via the Waitangi Treaty House car park, for a photo (again to say we'd been there!) we headed back to Paihia. This is the main port of call for exploring the Bay of Islands, with its myriad islands and coves. It was a very balmy day, but we could see the bad weather coming in, so hoped we'd miss it whilst at sea.

The aim of this trip was to explore the Bay, see bottlenose dolphins and hopefully go through the Hole in the Rock, a rock arch out at sea. We soon encountered the dolphins, which were very obliging and allowed those swimming (not us) a good experience, though with a whole boatful of people gawping at you, it wasn't nearly as 'intimate' as our Akaroa experience.

Just as that had finished, and mindful that this time of year was the best to see orca, the skipper said another boat had seen a pod kill a baby dolphin. Off we sped, and sure enough, there were the orcas! I have never felt so amazed to be in the presence of such enormous creatures in such proximity. It was a small pod of females, with a calf visible among them. They stayed with us for ages, and were very curious, swimming right under the boat. Needless to say, we have numerous pictures! With the weather closing in, and waves too big for the Hole in the Rock, we headed back to shore and then back to the campsite.

Before we left the campsite the next day, we walked the extremely short distance to the Haruru Falls, where the river falls over an old lava flow. They were very pretty I guess.
Once the customary 'ooohhhs' and 'aaahhhs' had been done, we continued north west to the great Kauri forests of Waipoua and Trounson.