Eager to get our start out into the Bay of Islands, we picked up our two rental cars around six-ish Friday night and hoped to get in around 10 to the Peppertree Hostel. I was in a car with Harrison, Antonia, and Alexander with Peter behind the wheel the whole way. It was a long trip that did require a rest stop for dinner, and a McDonald's shortly after for...second dinner...but we did get there in good time. We were all pretty wiped so after flipping a coin to figure out how we were splitting 5 and 4 in the two bunk rooms, we said goodnight and that was the end of it. the 4 people in one room piled in with the already-sleeping roommates, but us 5 had an entire 8 person room to ourselves for the whole trip. Certainly can't complain.
When we woke up Saturday, the weather seemed like it would be a bit of a problem: gray skies prevailed and every few minutes it seemed to rain just enough to keep us on our toes and raincoat hoods pulled over our heads. The majority of people were ready to do a boat tour of the islands and after a quick breakfast of muesli and toast we all headed off to the visitor's center. I originally didn't plan to go with them and maybe spend the day in Russell seeing something I hadn't seen before, but when I found out the boat ride everyone else was eying clocked in around 6 hours and not the 4 of my previous cruise, I felt like I might have more fun with everyone else. Luckily that turned out to be a great decision. Considering the weather, we were going to be the only 9 people on this boat. We had a private trip! I kept expecting one of the big river boats you might have dinner on or like the one I took with my family a couple weeks ago out to see the hole in the rock, but somehow we had booked a sailboat tour. (This was less of a surprise to the other people who had paid attention when the visitor center was laying out tour options and not idly standing around) With the weather still somewhat drab, sails turned out to be fantastic in the bay with wind whipping us all around. The boat also came stocked with massive warm ponchos and bean bag chairs on the "deck" (it was like a tight net) to enjoy the ride out to Moturua island in what turned into a heavy downpour.
I can't speak much about the ride out into the bay, most of it was spent huddled like a blueberry speaking seldom and graciously accepting the hot chocolate when one of the ship's two crew came around offering refreshment and cookies. When we got closer, the rain lightened up enough to peek out from the ponchos and start to get excited about what was described as "two hours snorkeling, paddle boarding, and hiking around the small island" by our tour guide. Again, my expectations were completely blown away when I found out all this came included in the boat and wouldn't be the hour walk about from the last cruise I had done. We were even given a briefing on what fish we might see below the water!
When we did finally get to Moturua, the first thing we did was Snorkel. I think this is the first time I've done it outside a swimming pool and it was amazing. The water wasn't too cold, and fish were darting in and out of the underwater rocks constantly. I can't remember the specific types...but I definitely saw five or six of the ones described to us on the boat. I think my favorite parts were when I just floated above a rock structure and let the fish get used to the floating mass above them and just swim in and out of the rock, darting this way and that. After that, a couple of us went paddle boarding which was a little difficult in the wind but proved to still give you a spectacular perspective of the island.
Pictured is Peter and Harrison riding around the cove with the sailboat on the far left. This was Peter's first time on a paddle board and he did have a couple spectacular falls. Not pictured is Camille, who also tried out a board for the first time and some 2 minutes after launching, the winds and current brought her back to shore completely on their own accord.
Eventually we did had to head back, which was far nicer than the way there, and had a really awesome ride with music from a portable speaker and some "sunshine in a bottle" provided by the crew. It really was a great time and left us all content, but incredibly tired. This did not stop someone from suggesting a small hike though, so shortly after returning we ended up taking a hike in the forest behind Paihia that let out on a lovely little view point.
The evening was spent mostly lazing around and cooking dinner at the hostel while watching Lord of the Rings that someone had thrown on the communal TV. Later on, the guys were finally convinced that we did indeed have access to these movies back in Auckland and we should go out and have a beer at a local bar.
On Sunday, we got a bit of an early start, to make sure we could get to the Waipu caves and back to Auckland in time for our car rentals, but did manage to see Paihia falls before we left the area. It was indeed a waterfall, but of course now that I'm in New Zealand my standards are a little higher...and I'm glad we didn't end up doing the hour long hike to get there. Instead, we drove and met some really intense chickens in the parking lot.
We also managed to make a stop for a piece of art by the apparently incredibly famous Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the Austrian-born New Zealand artist who was known well by some of the Europeans in the group. Perhaps the most "useful" piece of art I've seen in quite some time, it was, in fact, a toilet.
The caves were just as spectacular a second time, and now I had really come prepared. Decked out in bathing trunks and a headlamp I was ready to go as far in as the Waipu caves would let me. This turned out to be...not much farther than I had gone last time. We scurried through a few thinner passages but they lacked glow worms and were somewhat drab. The one really cool new thing though was Peter, Katharina, and I discovered a passage off to the right in the atrium of the cave that seemed to just be a cave filled with water. After Peter reminded me I was indeed wearing swim trunks we both got into the murky water up to our chests and swam into what turned into another cave exit around the corner. It was really cool, I just wish I had remembered to take a picture of the separate exit! Oh well, maybe that will be when I return for the third time!
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