Adventures of Beth and Dan: “Keep your eyes on the horizon and your nose to the wind.”- Clint Eastwood

Our first stop is The Bay of Islands. No land snakes are found in New Zealand. Main languages here are English and Maori...currency is the New Zealand dollar. Over 9000 miles of coastline is found here. 40% of the worlds kiwis are produced here. Rugby is the traditional sport in NZ and they are fierce and famous. In 1769 Captain Cook sailed in to NZ and mapped the entire coast line. After Cook came more British settlers arrived. The bay of islands was the first permanent settlement. In 1864 the population was over 12,000. There are over 50 volcanoes with only a few still active and it is prone to earthquakes. The Port of Waitangi is about 1,800 in population and it is a tender port. There are 144 islands that make up this bay. The ship probably uses shuttle buses to the town. The town is easy to walk around in. They have Wi-Fi at the museum cafe if you buy coffee :). We arrive at 7 and all aboard at 7:30. There is a good chance of seeing dolphins. The temperatures will be cool with a chance of rain at 70 degrees. The tender ride is about 20 minutes.

We start our tour going to the Haruru Falls. We cross the Kerri Kerri river and the bay is lovely. We hear the Tui bird and we see the beautiful multi trunk trees and their Christmas Tree which has beautiful red blooms looking like our AZ bottle brush blooms. The tourist months here are January and February. We drive here on the other side of the road like the British. It is lush and green with good roads and clean towns. There are mangroves here too which tolerate salt water. Our bus has 20 passengers and there are three buses in our group.

The falls light up at night time and the town has cute hotels and camping areas. At this stop we changed buses to a new bus with fewer people. Next stop will be Kerikeri which is more a farming and grazing area. New Zealand has 5 million people living here. In the 1950’s more Dutch came and changed some of the industry to milk cows and started producing cheese. The main industry now is tourism with 63 cruise ships coming this year. Last year it was under 50 ships!! They grow avocados here and we see signs up at local homes selling them. We see cattle and sheep grazing together. They say forestry is also a big industry for them. They used to sell wood to China but then Russia starting selling to China at a cheaper rate. Besides the Kiwi they have lots of citrus like grapefruit, oranges, lemon and limes. Wine is a major industry also. There are about 8 wineries close to our tour area!! There is no mining here to speak about. There are no hydrocarbons to talk about and no oil or heavy metal factories. The north is quite poor with little industry for workers. Everyone gets educated and the university is available to all. The Kiwi signs or the Kiwi on a sign is used everywhere. They use high bushes or trees for natural fences to protect their grapes and crops. In Kerikeri we stop at a Chocolate factory!! On the weekends there is a farmers market here with Music and arts and crafts.

They say summers here barely get over 86 but they do have humidity. At night it gets down to 60 or 70. They say they don’t have AC or fans but you must wear a hat or use sun screen because of the power of the sun.

Kerikeri has about 7000 people with two stores, a clinic, but no hospital ...but excellent helicopter services to get you out quickly if you need a hospital. There is a McDonalds here. The “Kiwi’s” hunt and fish here and they say the fishing is outstanding. It’s a cute town with beautiful flowers and clean streets. This area is the marlin capital of New Zealand. They also have lots of sharks! Sailing is wonderful here two and they fill the harbor everywhere. There are no traffic lights in this town!!

The first church was built here around 1820 with mostly Keri wood. There is the famous Stone Store here and we get off the bus for 40 minutes to explore. That was a lovely spot!!

Our lunch was a cute little spot with an attached nursery. Lunch was a hot ham and cheese sandwich with a small salad that we split. We travel over traffic free roads winding up and down over and around beautiful green hills with few to no homes and one way bridges. They say everything grows here. Even curry trees. The Maoris are the native inhabitants coming from other Asian areas originally that we’re first here. The book selected for the book club onboard is about the Maoris called The Bone Pickers. It’s tough to get through and very sad.

Our next stop was the Mission. One of the houses is the second oldest in NZ. This church was built by missionaries who worked with the Maories. In 1831 an oak tree was transplanted to here which is the oldest oak in NZ. Originally there were 1000 acres in the Anglican Mission but now it is down to just 25. Missionaries came to help because there was canabailism at the time. The Maories were easy to teach and grasp things. The mission was peaceful and inviting.

Our next stop was Kawakawa. pronounced cowacowa. They have wild hogs in NZ and they hunt them with dogs and kill them with knives. They raise deer too on farms as they want the horns for an aphrodisiac in Europe. Fire season has started here and already the danger is in the moderate zone. In Kawakawa we visited the Hundertwasser famous toilet!!!

Next stop is the Glow Worm Caves owned by a private family. Hundertwasser is a famous artist who thought the toilets should be beautiful too so he asked permission of the city to use his artistic talent to shape the toilet areas and add art and beauty!!

The glow worm caves were interesting too. They are actual worms deep in a cave that are bioluminescent and can only be seen in the dark. They hang from the caves and spin long leaders that are sticky and catch insects. It was fascinating !!

Their signs often show the Kiwi but they are endangered and protected. It is unusual to see them as they are nocturnal.

Our first stop.

Running beautifully.

Dan wanted to buy lots here!! Tasty 👍

And there are samples of course!!

The very interesting and old Stone Store.

Their flowers were absolutely over the top!

He’s always looking for something. 🙃

Sailboats in the background

Here’s a Kiwi that folks in our group saw and shared with me ..( they were out at dusk)

Church from 1819

The stained glass looks so much better in person with replicas of the Stone Store...

The oldest pear tree planted 1819!!!

This is the famous tree...