Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands (Dec 8, 2016)

Dec 8 (Thu) - Bay of Islands

            Today we arrived in the Bay of Islands in the very northern part of the north island. We were the first group off the ship. We got on a tender and we were taken to the dock. It was raining today.

Tender loving care

 We got on a bus and then left on our tour half way across the Northland. We stopped in one of the towns for a washroom stop. Power was out on most of the northern part of the island.

Rainy day

Shopping center at the rest stop

We took the Manginangina Kauri Walk in the Puketi Rainforest. It was raining while we were there, of course. We had a guide that told us about the Kauri trees, their importance and how everything in the forest works together and supports each other. New Zealand did not have any mammals until man came to the island.

Manginangina Rainforest

Kauri tree

Tree toucher

We then stopped at a small town called Kawakawa. The power was still out across the north part of the island. We stopped here to get something to eat, but many places were closed because of the power outage. We did not find anything so we just walked around. The town had many strange sculptures, etc.

Lamppost on the corner

Logging is a main industry 

Washroom decor

Samson?

After Kawakawa we visited the Kawiti Caves to see the glow worms. It was fascinating to look up on the ceiling of the cave and see so many points of light. It looked like the Milky Way. They are worms that form a web that insects get caught in and is their food source. It was fun to see. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the cave so we left the camera on the bus. I'll use a couple of pictures from the web.

Cave entrance 

Glow worms

 When the tour was over we returned to the pier. We took a shuttle into the nearby town called Paikea. We found a picture of New Zealand and a koauau (Maori flute). The power came back on in the store where we bought the flute.

Artist of our New Zealand painting

 We then walked back to the pier taking pictures along the way.

Street in Paikea

Christmas tree - blossoms in December

We passed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the place where the treaty was signed between the Maori and the English.

Maori monument

Signing house

 We finally got back to the dock, ready to tender back to the ship.

Maori canoe

We got back to the ship about 4 PM and went to get a hamburger and fries from the Mast Grill.

To be continued: