Road Trip to Bay Of Islands- Paihia

Our crazy Tuk Tuk driver we found in Auckland. Gave us the ride of our lives up a steep street, thru mad traffic and down sidewalks dodging people! Much like the asian ones!

Leaving Paihia

Kylie and waterfall in Paihia

Hole in the Rock

Cute little red shed on Otehei Bay Island

Wandering down Paihia beach looking for seashells

Scary Warrior girls

Lunch stop at Otehei Bay and more seashell hunting

Dolphins right in front of us!

Nice hair! Very windy day!

Off in a little rental car, a Nissan Sunny, about 3 1/2 hours north of Auckland. Sounds easy but they drive on the 'wrong' side of the road here with the steering wheel on the 'wrong' side and the signal light clicker on the 'wrong' side too! I nicked a couple of little things but the car didn't look any different and the tires stayed inflated so it was all good except that poor Kylie is probably still having nightmarish flashbacks, sorry again hun!! If it's any consolation my ears are still ringing from your screams..... I don't know how many times I would wipe the windows when I really wanted to turn!

We did make it safe and sound and found a cute little place called Cantabay Lodge to stay in which was only a couple of blocks from the beach.

We went on another boat tour of the Bay of Islands and helped deliver mail/supplies to a couple of the islands, come across a pod of dolphins and got to watch them follow us for miles and miles and then suddenly a tiny little penguin shot in front of us too! Got to see the famous Hole in The Rock island that was originally named Piercy Island by Captain Cook. Unfortunately we didn't get to go thru the hole as the waters were so rough and choppy it would have been like driving on shear ice.
Stopped at the end for a drink at the Duke of Marlborough Inn in Russell, across the bay from Paihia. This pub was the first liscensed pub in NZ and Russell used to be the capital of NZ.

Observations in Auckland- I was told that there are 1.5 million people in Auckland and that they have no proper transit system as far as trains etc. So the traffic in this city is actually even worse than Calgary! Very slow, very congested and very busy. You have to own a car in this city most families have 2 or 3. The cars here are different styles and brands, like the Nissan 'Sunny' and another GM product called Holden equilvanlent to Ford I beleive.