As you can see we spent most of the day exploring the Bay of Islands by boat.

Today was special to us as we met each other at a friends party on 21 feb 1970 and have been together ever since. 💕💕💕.

We had a tour of the many islands and met a pod of dolphins. They swam under the boat and in front of us for a while.

In the bay it isn’t too choppy but on the far side of the islands we met the full force of the waves in the South Pacific Ocean. I wasn’t sick as it was a one metre swell ( ideal kayaking swell for grandad, Lily and Anona.)

We went out to Motukokako, the hole in the rock island. The conditions at sea were ok to sail through it, weren’t we lucky?

There was a huge shoal of fish through the hole on the other side of the island. They were iridescent lime in colour and many sea birds on the surface above them.

We saw gannets albatross shags and gulls.

The boat stops for over an hour on one of the larger islands, Otehei Bay for a barbecue lunch. The bbq was very good lots of choice. You had only to pay for your drinks. Some people went swimming there and some went on the walks up the headland to see the view. We stayed on the beach!

The last stop was at Russell a half hour sea journey from Paihia. You could opt to get off here and return by another ferry for free. This is what we did.

Russell has lots of history. It was once the capital of New Zealand when they killed whales..no comment!

We walked along the shore to the right of the sea front up to the church.

This is the oldest church in NewZealand. I was so interested to see the history of the grave stones. Also the prayer mats were beautiful tapestries of life in New Zealand and its history. There were important Maori graves and statues and also ship wreck victims from past times.

Next was the museum with Maori carvings, a whaling ship and whaling stew pots spears etc lots of interesting items and info about Russell

Furthest along was the French Mission and writing press( Catholic Church) high up on the hill. It has a colonial shop and cafe.

We sat on the veranda and drank tea it was delightful.

Russell is a charming town. Remember we tried to reach it by dirt track yesterday!!