Wednesday and Bay of Islands Tour

So Wednesday was a morning tour (4 hours) of the Bay of Islands. Yes this was a boat and yes I was getting on it but I did take my ginger pills an hour before we left. As someone with a ‘boat and rough water’ problem, I will only say that ginger pills are my friend!!! It turned out that the water was relatively calm that day. We were hoping to see dolphins but did not. It seems that there were orcas in the bay on Tuesday and the dolphins retreated to the smaller, out-of-the-way bays since they are often food for the orcas. Ah, survival in action! The highlight of the trip was going to the Hole-in-the-Rock island. The water was actually calm enough that we were able to go through the hole. When we arrived at the island, there was another tour boat there and we watched them go through the hole. I think our captain was not planning on going through but was shamed into it when the other boat went. I am so glad they did because it was sooooooo cool!

This is the boat we went out on

Most of these islands are basalt rock from volcanic eruptions

Cool cave!

Herons

This is why it is called the Bay of Islands - over 400 islands in the bay

This is Hole in the Rock Island. The boat in the picture is another tour boat

They are getting ready to go through the hole

Our captain wasn't planning on going through the hole himself but after seeing the other boat go through. he said that the gauntlet was thrown and he had to go through. The next several photos are of our ship going through the hole.

Harbor seals basking in the sun

Check out the color of the water. One would think we were in the Caribbean

We stopped at this island for tea and walking on the beach

Can't believe I was actually able to get these photos of a gull in flight over the boat

 Isn't this a beautiful boat. They were just sailing in the bay

Since we had the afternoon free, we decided to take a drive around Whangaroa Harbor

On the way back to the condo, we stopped at an avocado orchard to get some, since they are being picked now. There was a small building with avocados already sorted by size and ripeness and the price list was posted on the wall. This was done on the honor system, you just take what you want and drop your money in a lock box. Yes folks, there are still places where this is done. We got a dozen of seconds for $4.00. Unbelievable!

This now brings us to Thursday and we decided that Thursday was a relax, stroll the beach, do laundry, go to the canes at Kawaiti to see the glow worms, get ready to leave on Friday sort of day.

Walked the beach that morning and found some great shells. The down side was that the sand hoppers found me. These are nasty little black flys (bugs – not sure) that bite. They draw blood and they gave me large red itchy bumps that I am still treating with Calamine lotion and taking antihistamines to control the itching. Obviously I am allergic to them – ugly little buggers!!!!!

The glow worms were amazing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any pictures inside so I only have a photo of the entrance to the cave and a couple of photos on the bush walk from the cave to the car park. For all the cave tours that we have taken, this was the very best! It was not commercial at all. They had good walkways but no electricity to the cave so the only light we had was the battery operated lantern that the guide carried. While it was a bit spooky, it was great. The glow worms were amazing. It was like a million twinkle lights all over the ceiling and walls of the cave. WOW!

OK folks, that's all for now. I'll be posting more later tonight.