February 9, 2023 – Bay Of Islands, New Zealand

Located in the Northland region of New Zealand’s North Island, Bay of Islands stretches out over the Pacific Ocean. It was here in 1840 that the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between Maori and British Crown.  

We slowly moved into a maritime park and anchored in a beautiful, blue bay this morning.  This area is known as the gateway to dive sites and sheltered beaches.  It has big, rocky cliffs and hundreds of islands.

We had a tour booked this morning so we were able to get on the tender to go ashore quickly.  We got on a bus and headed out for our tour.  About 2 miles away is the pretty, little beach town of Paihia.  Many  small resorts along the beaches with restaurants advertising fresh seafood (lots of oysters in this town).  As soon as we left Paihia, the road quickly started up a hill, windy and scenic.  The bus driver told us about the scenery and vegetation.  

We drove into the countryside and went to the family owned Kawiti Cave tours.  It was first established in the 1950’s by Te Tawai Kawiti, great grandson of the famous Maori Chief, Kawiti.  The limestone cave system is home to thousands of glow worms spread across the ceiling surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites.  We had a young girl named Kesha as our guide.  She was from the Maori tribe.  Very knowledgeable and entertaining.  We had a group of 30 people.  She had us stand close together and gave about every 5th person a lantern.  We entered the natural opening of this cave, walking on a boardwalk and could hear a small river flowing below us.  We walked about a 1/4 mile into this cave and then she had everyone turn off the lanterns.  As we stood there, our eyes adjusted to the darkness.  We looked up and saw thousands of glow worms.  If I didn’t know what I was looking at, I’d think I was looking up at the stars.  It looked like the Milky Way.  She told us more about the glow worms and that they light up to attract bugs to eat.  When they are full, they are able to turn off their glow.  Very interesting and beautiful.  We turned on the lanterns and continued deeper into the cave until we came to a smaller room.  We turned off the lanterns and again, we saw the fluorescent blue-green glow that illuminates the ceiling of the cave.

Our next stop was a small down called Kawakawa.  World famous Austrian architect and visual artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, conceived and designed a project that this town is now known for.  The public toilets.  Who knew.  Lol.  

Our next stop was the Puketi Forest.  We drove through the countryside, up over beautiful green hills, filled with sheep and dairy cows.  The scenery was gorgeous and made me want to come back and explore.  We found our way to the forest and had a guided walk on a boarded trail.  The ancient kauri forest spans 37,000 acres, dotted with kauri, hardwood trees and 370 recorded species of plants. The massive kauri trees once covered most of the Bay Of Islands.  Growing over 164 feet high, these mighty giants are now protected.  We saw one tree estimated at 1,200 years old.  It’s a massive trunk.  Very straight and tall without branches until you reach the top and it forms a massive canopy.  It makes me sad to think how many of these trees were cut down.  Just makes you wonder how it looked 1,000 or 2,000 years ago when there were whole forests of these mighty giants.  

On our drive back, we were near Kerikeri and is regarded as Northland’s fruit capital.  We saw acres of orchards.  Our guide said they grow many kinds of fruits including kiwi, lemons and blueberries.

We drove back to the port and enjoyed the ride.  

Did you know:

– $1 US = $1.58 NZ dollar (good shopping).

– New Zealand has very strict biosecurity laws for anyone entering their country, including ships.  This year alone, 5 ships have been denied entry, including the Queen Elizabeth.  If a ship has an accumulation of sea life, such as algae, bacteria, plankton, sea grasses, mussels and barnacles on the hull, it’s denied entry.  Thankful we passed inspection.

– We had many announcements before disembarking in NZ regarding biosecurity laws.  If passenger breaks any of these laws, you are immediately fined $400.  Includes taking any kinds of food, flowers, wooden objects (carvings) into their country (includes health supplements).  Also includes footwear that could be contaminated with soil, seeds or water.

Great day in New Zealand.  The people are lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.