This morning we had arranged to go on a half day cruise around the Bay of Islands and out to the hole in the rock along with hopefully seeing some dolphins en route. We set off at 9.00 in glorious sunshine which has been in short supply since we arrived in New Zealand. Our first stop was Russell over the other side of the bay which we are planning to visit tomorrow then we set off on the cruise, the scenery is stunning and very dramatic, with some imagination you can work out where the rim of the craters would be. When Cook mapped the area he counted everything he could see which is why a lot of the information says that the bay of islands contains 140 islands, today however they say it contains 80 as the definition of an island has changed, it is something that remains visible at high tide and sustains some form of life (animal or vegetable) however there are a lot of various shapes and sizes. The hole in the rock is exactly what it says a hole in the rock which is about 18 metres wide which has been formed where the sea has eroded the rock, apparently this is the second hole, and a third is currently forming which will take over when this one erodes we actually took the boat through the hole which was a magnificent piece of driving as there wasn’t much room either side we stopped when we were fully under then when it was time to leave for some reason we seemed to come out on full throttle! From there we went to one of the larger islands and stopped to give everyone a chance to get off and have a walk round. We walked to the top of the hill to have a look at the views which were definitely worth it. It was then back onto the boat to return to Paihia. On the way back we actually saw a pod of dolphins but we couldn’t follow them as we had to head back. We docked about 1pm and walked back to the apartment for lunch. This afternoon we went to the Waitangi Treaty ground which is where the original treaty between the British and Maori people was signed, this treaty was written in both English and Maori which has been the source of problems ever since as the language used is slightly different so where the English version states that the Maori will retain rights as British subjects, the Maori version says that they will retain all land and property as before! It was very interesting but unfortunately by the time we had been on the guided tour and looked at the museum it was closing time so we didn’t see the Maori dance but I am sure that we will have a number of opportunities to see this as we tour around, then it was time to walk back to the apartment for a relax before dinner.
