On New Year’s Eve we headed up north to the Bay of Islands. It was about a 3 1/3 hour drive north of Auckland to Paihia, a town considered to be the activity center of the area. We had rented a vacation house (a "bach" as it's called here) with a pool that overlooked the water and islands! That night we went out to celebrate the coming of 2006 at Mako Beach Bar. We shared an outdoor table with locals we had just met, which overlooked the water. After having put away quite a few Speights, midnight struck, and the fireworks over the water were spectacular.
On day 2, we booked a dolphin and whale sightseeing tour. If dolphins were spotted, and were exhibiting “social behaviour” (according to the tour guides), we were told we could swim with them. After 4 hours out on the water we didn’t see a single dolphin, the reason being, Orcas had come into the bay. We did see quite a few Orcas, and fairly close up, which was exciting enough!
On day 3, we booked a scuba diving trip. I’m not certified, but Andrew is. I did a beginners dive in the Cook Islands in May 2005, and loved it. I wished I had gotten around to getting my certification, but a second day out on a nice big boat didn’t sound so bad. Diving certification is now on my must do list. The main diving attraction there is the sunken Rainbow Warrior. That was the Greenpeace ship that the French government bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbour in the 80’s. Andrew enjoyed it, although the visibility wasn’t so good. Later, there was a second dive near a reef. I went for a swim, in the very chilly water. (I was the only one not wearing a wetsuit).
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