Bay of Islands

Saturday morning we took off on David's first 4 day vacation.  We stopped mid way at Pizza Barn in Waipu known for its unique and tasty thin crust pizzas.

Uretiti Beach was our next stop.  Miles of white sand beach to walk along.

We arrived at 88 Lodge to beautiful accommodations and nurturing hosts in Kerikeri.  The gardens surrounding the property were so well tended.  It was a very peaceful and relaxing setting.

Homemade yogurt, fresh fruit from their garden and trees, and croissants to - die - for greeted us for breakfast.  Now to follow Geoff's map for our day of exploration.

A brisk walk along Maturi Bay and then on to the Rainbow Warrior Memorial Site.

This is the view from the hill top.

The Rainbow Warrior was a Greenpeace Ship that sailed around to protest the French nuclear testing.  It was torn apart by 2 bombs planted by French secret agents in 1985.  What remained of the ship was sunk off Matauri Bay and is used as a dive site and is marked with its propeller and a black iron rainbow to symbolize the event.  A Portuguese photographer was killed during the incident.

We visited a few more bays and beaches before winding around on a scenic route that took us to Manginangina Reserve where the protected Kauri Trees resided.  They are very impressive.

Puketi Forest

Yes --- It was raining!!  That's not a kangaroo in my pouch ---just camera, hat, etc.

Now off to Rainbow Falls and a river walk in Kerikeri.

I don't know why David is pointing to the tree --- maybe to show we didn't need our umbrellas at this point.

After a delightful dinner at the corner pub we crashed for the night.

We enjoyed a cultural performance by a Maori Group at Whaitangi.  This is a very important historical site for New Zealand.  Rather than explain about the treaty you might want to google the 

Treaty of Waitangi.

Now onto the Ipipiri for a relaxing night of cruising.

While on our one night  cruise we were able to hike around one of the islands, watch playful dolphin, and enjoy dinner with a group of people representing 5 countries. What a kick!  It was relaxing and beautiful.  Since I was unable to capture a dolphin photo I will end with one I borrowed from an Ipipiri site.