Malcolm and Lovat visit.

Bay watch!

On lookout

Brothers.

ba

Malcolm the hunter!

Hole in the rock.

Dune surfing.

More fun.

Hughie, me and the inevitable bear!

Pacific Ocean right, Tasman Sea left, me centre.

Cape Reinga, a long way from anywhere.

The rest of the picture.

From the coach speeding along 90 mile beach.

So nice to share our little paradise. Having come from such a dreadful winter on the east coast, as well as a painful operation we feel they were ready for this! The weather has been kind and we have managed some new trips. Lovat was a little overenthusiastic on the first day, walking into Russell and back. It is a lovely walk, partly through a nature reserve and up past the historic flagstaff, but a lot of up on a hot day and a swim as well was quite tiring without recovering from a back operation. Waitangi day on Sunday and a ferry across the estuary to watch the war canoe paying it's tribute. A nice walk around the treaty grounds and house and back in Russell to hear the 21 gun salute from The New Zealand Navy. Next day Malcolm Vincent and I went out on 4 reel without Lovat who had a good rest whilst we caught supper. 2  mako sharks for Vincent, both nearly landed and snapper for us all as well as a tarwhine for Malcolm. Perfectly filleted and onto the BBQ for supper after a lovely swim for us all on Long Beach. More Bay of Islands from the sea next day with the cream trip cruise to the hole in the rock, a first time for us although this is our 3rd year here. Perfect weather and everything as hoped for - dolphins, seabirds, fish, penguins and fantastic views. We stopped for a picnic lunch and swim before going to the hole in the rock and a lovely cruise home. Kerikeri for a walk at the stone house on Wednesday, visit to the falls and some shopping made a lazy day before a very long tip to Cape Reinga on Thursday. 6.30am start shocked us all but the comfortable coach with songs and amusing anecdotes from our guide and driver, Hughie, made us all very relaxed. A coffee stop to look at ancient, giant kauri trees, dug up from a swamp, then a fantastic drive along 90 mile beach to the cape. At the end of the beach the coach went along a river bed to get back to the road and we stopped for some dune surfing - fantastic! Down steep, high dunes on a body board. Cape Reinga was beautiful, with perfect weather (again) we looked down on the meeting point of the Pacific Ocean and The Tasman Sea. We planted a manuka tree overlooking the cape in memory of Pat and Alan, The place reminded me of them and their tales of their visit to New Zealand. Back for a relaxing drive home with more maori songs and stories and a nice walk through a kauri forest as a break on the way back. A meal at the fishing club in Russell finished another lovely day.   A quiet weekend enjoying the sunshine and swims with good BBQ's, a good walk to the whale station for 'the boys' and birding for Lovat.

Another island and another cyclone

Out of action!

Our lovely blue bay.

Blue trevally.

Too young to board!

The suit was wrong - nothing to do with the body!

Poor Knights.

Snorkelling through a cave.

Dolphins bow riding.

Our fishing spot but not today.

Cyclone Wilma hit us friday night with 24hrs of rain and very strong winds. We were cut off from Russell for a while by a fallen tree and landslip. The whole of Northland was cut off from the rest of NZ by floods and landslips on route 1 the lifeline to Auckland. Another jigsaw finished but at least no worries about water for the rest of our stay as the tank must be full. A trip to Kerikeri showed the extent of the damage with landslips and evidence of recent floods all the way. The river walk at stone house had great logs left up in the trees 30ft above the normal river level and the Haruru falls reminded us of Niagra for the speed of water going over the top and the spray above. Our lovely bay turned yellow from the landslip wash and other debris and there were few boats risking a collision with the many large logs being swept out. Monday was calm and sunny and we risked a booking on a trip to the Poor Knights Islands for Wednesday. Drove to Tutukaka for the 40min crossing then snorkelling in the clearest water we have ever been in. The Islands are a nature reserve with no landing and the marine reserve around them with the clear water place them in the top 10 dive sites in the world. The weather was perfect with calm, sunny conditions. Huge shoals of trevally on the surface could be clearly seen and dolphins played in the bow wave for most of the crossing. The only nesting place in the world for Buller's shearwaters, who migrate from the arctic, and flocks of storm petrels gave us a wonderful bird display. We snorkelled with shoals of demoiselles, trevally, large snapper, marblefish, blue mau mau, and sponges all set with wonderful background colours. Both had a go at paddleboarding and managed to stand and paddle the boards! A quick trip round the gannet colonies of the Squires pinnacles on the way back finished a fantastic boat trip. Too tired for a proper meal even when we got home but what an amazing day.