The Bay of Islands

Whangerai falls is a couple of km from the hostel we were staying at. It was a beautiful waterfall that, if you clambered over some slippery rocks you could go all the way behind. We spent a while there before taking a walk through the forest to some huge native Kauri trees, where on-route I found a big rope swing into the river we were following, which was very nice for cooling off! After that we had a nice big booking session and planned our way up to The Bay of Islands!


We arrived in Piahia (in the Bay of Islands) on the 4th of January and straight away booked our activities for the next few days. On the day we arrived we went para-sailing, which went ridiculously high (1200ft apparently) so we had a great view of the whole area. Also got some good photos as you can see!

The next day was an early start (yes half 8 is early!) We had booked ourselves onto a dolphin sailing tour and were quick to find a pod of Bottlenose dolphins. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to swim with them as they had 5 or 6 babies which we weren't allowed to disturb. The dolphins stayed with the boat for about half an hour before we moved on to get to our lunchtime stopoff at Roberton Island. A spot of snorkeling got done as well as a short walk to the highest point on the island, before swimming back to the boat for a BBQ. After

lunch we did go in search of some more dolphins to swim with but to no avail, though we did see some penguins and a small shark. It was a really good day and good value for money since every other dolphin cruise was at least as expensive and for half the time.