Bay of Islands., Northland

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The most famous kauri’s of New Zealand can be found in the Waipoua Forest Park (see tip about Tane Mahuta), but there are a lot of alternative walks to see these impressive trees.

One of the most easiest accessible walks is the so called Manginangina Kauri Walk in the Puketi Forest. The forest can be reached from the Bay of Islands through an unsealed road from Waipapa along SH 10.

The loop track starts at a small car park Waiare Road, just north of the Puketi recreation Area. It is a 350 metres long loop track on a boardwalk (will take about 15 minutes), which shows a lot of mature kauri’s and other native trees.

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Russell was once the capital of New Zealand.

Nowadays a quiet nice historical town, situated just ten minutes by ferry from Paihia. It has some old buildings and a couple of nice museums. Russell Museum (former Captain Cook Memorial Museum), Clendon Cottage, Christ Church (oldest church of New Zealand) and Pompallier House built by French missionaries for printing works, nowadays it is in its original state and you can see how printing was done in the old days.

Russell is starting point for boat tours and dolphin watching/swimming.
On 'the other side of the hill' is Long Beach for swimming. On the way to this beach some stunning views over the peninsula and the Bay of Islands.

From Flagstaff Hill you will have a great view over some of the 150 islands of the Bay of Islands.

But perhaps nicest thing to do is just stroll around along the Strand with old pohutukawa’s or having a tea or coffee in one of the outdoor café’s.

Urupukapuka Island is a great place to relax after a morning of Dolphin watching. Arriving at Otehei Bay the white sand and blue water meets you. You just want to jump off the wharf into the sea for a swim.

Urupukapuka Island is reasonably small and has many walking routes to follow all offering spectacular coastal scenery.

If you feel the need to be more adventurous then find a small beach with no visible access. Find a rough path and bush crash your way down a steep incline, through someones tent ground and on to a beach.
Or stay at Otehei Bay and enjoy a cold beer on the beach.

Walk around on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and see all the historical objects with your own eyes.

It is surrounded by nice gardens. Enjoy the view from the lawns over the Bay of Islands.
The Waitangi Visitor Centre has a café and a shop with some very interesting and unique souvenirs.

The Treaty House was home of James Busby, first British resident of New Zealand.
It is one of the oldest buildings in the country.

Nowadays it is a little museum where you can find out facts about the Treaty.

The Bay of Islands is a beautiful island studded harbour formed from drowned river valleys. Paihia is the main town for tourists, though Kerikeri is actually the commercial centre. Russell is an historic town that used to be the capital of New Zealand. Waitangi is where modern New Zealand was born and is mostly a historical reserve. You can read more about the Bay of Islands in my pages devoted to that place as well as my Russell and Paihia pages. I had a holiday with IcemanNZL and some other friends up there in Jan 2004, so check IcemanNZL's pages too for more info. My last holiday there was January 2006.

The Bay of Islands is now a centre for big game fishing, having been made famous by American writer Zane Grey who fished here.
It is now also a centre for cruises of the area, which is the site of some of the earliest Europen settlements. There is also a lot of Maori history in the area.

Haruru Falls is the site of an ancient maori canoe landing site on the Waitangi River.
Here the river cascades over the lold ava flows.
Ther is a bushwalk nearby and a walk to the Waitangi treaty house