Oops! we actually needed a reservation (in the middle of summer) to do black water rafting, repelling and small group viewing of glow worms unless we wanted to wait from 10 am until 3 pm. And we learned this after we drove about 1/2 hour south out of our way because we didn't believe the website. Our only option was to try to hop on one of the touristy boats that leave every half hour just to view glow worms and we decided we didn't want that experience, so sadly we left Waitomo and started to drive north towards Auckland. Make reservations for this activity a few days in advance!!!
I should mention that NZ was having a bit of a cyclone today and there was persistent rain and clouds all day, all over the North Island. We regrouped after our epic fail at Waitomo, but then had to forget all thoughts of stopping to see Bethel Beach on the west coast or hike nearby or visit Auckland's harbour for lunch or visit all the beautiful coves along the east coast and just kept driving north for hours. A 7 hour drive that was supposed to be spread out over 2 days happened in one day, in pouring rain, on often twisty roads or on an interstate through Auckland. Shout out to Chad for amazing driving under stress on the left side of the road! Yikes, passing trucks is terrifying on curves!
Anyway, we called ahead to our next lodging host, and to our great joy learned that our 2 day beach house at Paihia in the Bay of Islands was available if we arrived a night earlier, so we kept driving and arrived at a spectacular beach house with a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a laundry, 3 kayaks and situated towering over the beach on a steep bluff overlooking the beautiful bay. Joy! Good karma!
We booked a 4 hour ferry trip through the Bay of Islands with Explore and stopped at the town of Russell for the afternoon and took the passenger ferry back. (Update: don't waste any time stopping at Russell). This cruise visited Hole in the Rock and also stopped at one of the larger islands and we had a barbecue lunch, enjoyed sunbathing and hiking, stayed as long as we wanted and caught a later boat back to Paihia. Our last day in Paihia was a morning of kayaking and a glow worm cave vist and a drive through some Maori towns. On the way home we picked up some lamb chops at $7 a pound and grilled the chops on the porch and had a peaceful, delicious dinner on our porch...maybe one of the best meals in NZ. On Friday, we left Paihia for the west coast,visiting a gorgeous beach with sand dunes and a beautiful harbour, saw the largest Kauri tree in NZ 153 feet tall and 40 feet in girth, and saw the black sand beach at Bethel Beach at sunset. We found an efficient hotel in downtown, had a great dinner at a fun place,and spent a morning visiting Auckland's harbour and shopping before our 7:30 pm flight home Saturday night. Cheers!
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