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With only one full day left in New Zealand we pondered the many things that were available to do and finally decided on taking a boat tour of the Bay of Islands. We drove into ‘town,’ had lunch and shopped around a bit. There was an Arts ‘n’ Crafts fair in full bloom because of the Princess Cruise that was doubling the size of the population for a day and we learned about what a lot of people’s ‘winter hobbies’ are.

Our ride. (The big yellow one.)

At 1:30 we launched on our biofueled, twin hull, three decks tall, bright yellow behemoth. Because it was still early in the season the boat was only about quarter full, which gave everyone great seats inside and out.

The first stop was Black Rocks, a set of small short islands created by lava. The low tide waterline is covered with green lipped mussels, which waiters had been trying to get us to eat since Wellington – evidently quite the delicacy.

Black Rocks

A beautiful cove on Motuarohia Island in the Bay of Islands, NZ. At high tide it becomes two islands.

Dolphins were spotted by another boat across the bay, so we raced over to see them. We found two boats in a small cove that were both swim-with-the-dolphins tours so we pulled in and watched. Sarah and I had decided not to do a dolphin swim tour today, but we both agreed that maybe we should have – it looked like a blast. The funniest part was the tour guides on the boats yelling “Look down!” to the swimmers. Evidently people float around on the surface looking across the water for fins and forget that any dolphin close enough to see will likely be swimming around underneath them. The bottlenose dolphin pod that was there had about a dozen members that were just as curious about the people. This form of swimming with the dolphins is just about being in the water observing them. The dolphins are wild, so there isn’t any petting going on and no rides while you hold their fins. They would jump occasionally and slap their tails on the water, and seemed to enjoy swimming around the people.

Swimmers and dolphins

The farthest point out on the boat tour is “Hole in the Rock.” Neither Sarah nor I were terribly excited about that part of the tour, we’ve seen plenty of rock arches before. When we first saw the hole it looked a lot like all the others. But the scale was very deceiving – the closer we got the bigger the hole got. A rock in the middle of the water offers no clues as to its size, and by the time we were in front of it there appeared to be enough room to motor a small boat through. Then our captain put the boat into reverse and started backing in. We were standing on the top deck of a three deck boat – easily twenty five feet off the water – with a radar pillar and antennae jutting high above us; it was clear that backing into the rock was a bad idea. Then the hole got bigger. And bigger. Within a couple minutes our boat was swallowed up by the Hole in the Rock, with plenty of headroom above us. The southern gap of the hole is narrower at the waterline, so there wasn’t comfortable clearance for us to go all the way through, but we sat inside for quite awhile marveling at the actual size and snapping hundreds of touristy pictures that will all fail to convey any sense of being there.

"Hole in the Rock." It looks small, but picture our entire three deck boat inside it with plenty of room to spare.

Aft view. We couldn't back in any further.

View over the bow. This conveys a bit of the scale. I would have needed two cameras to get it all in one shot.

The final stop was a port of call in Otehei Bay, where we disembarked for an hour to hike around. From the lookout points on the top of the hills you could enjoy more incredible views of the Bay of Islands.

Shore leave in Otehei Bay.

A majestic tree in Otehei Bay.

It was Friday 11/25 in New Zealand, but it was Thursday night back home – Thanksgiving. We had decided to celebrate Thanksgiving in NZ at the same real time that our families were celebrating back home. We had a wonderful dinner at Alfresco’s in Paihia. No turkey here, but we had fantastic New Zealand venison and lamb.

Thanksgiving Dinner - I had the venison.

Thanksgiving Dinner - Sarah had the lamb.

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With a long drive ahead and a plane to catch we hit the road at 8am. Inspired by the ancient Kauri trees we had seen earlier on the trip, we took the long way to Auckland via the Waipoua Forest to see some living examples.

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We had breakfast in probably Kaikohe, my blueberry muffin being more memorable than the town only because of its complete lack of flavor.

Mime Cow, Panda Cow, or Mad Cow?

Tane Mahuta, Maori for “Lord of the Forest”, is the largest living Kauri tree, estimated to be about 2,000 years old. It’s a short walk off Highway 12 to see this giant, with a girth over 45 feet and a height of about 170 feet. Kauri are odd looking trees with a smooth fat limbless trunk reaching up to the canopy and then shooting out huge lateral branches. Their lumber was prized for ship building, it is light in weight, very strong and resistant to corrosion by salt water – ships built from Kauri were markedly faster than those using more traditional woods.

Sarah in front of Tane Mahuta

After seeing Tane Mahuta we stopped at the Kauri Museum in Matakohe and learned more about the history of these trees and the lumber trade in New Zealand. The museum has an enormous collection of woods and amber, along with recreations of many early saw mills with original equipment. It’s definitely worth the stop.

Saw blades from a old sawmill in the Kauri Museum. The blades turn much slower in the display, but I think this is more representative of what it must have looked like in an operating mill.

How to let the dogs out. Part of the controls to a giant milling bandsaw.

We had lunch across the street from the museum, where I had a savory pie and Phoenix Organic Honey Cola. The reason it’s called “Phoenix” is because once you swallow it you’re pretty sure it’s going to rise up again. Honey Cola: bad idea.

Savory Pie and Honey Cola. I ate it. And it was good. Except for the Honey Cola.

We arrived at the airport three hours before our flight, right on plan. Sarah had bought an extra bag for us to check, distributing the load three ways and keeping us under the weight limit with our wine and other souvenirs. Though, having eaten our way from one end of the north island to the other, I’m pretty sure my personal weight limit was exceeded.

Our flight home.

Time to go home.

Thank you Kim and everyone else at AnimFX for inviting me down, and giving Sarah and me the incentive to visit New Zealand again for our 25th anniversary.

Kia ora!

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Bay of Islands Boat Tour

Back to Auckland via Giant Kauri Trees