BAY OF ISLANDS – 20TH FEBRUARY 3013

Our last port of call before reaching our destination of Sydney; The Bay of Islands, New Zealand. We arrived early morning to a beautiful sunny dawn.

After breakfast we were off on a tour of the island. On this occasion we were not moored to a dock but anchored in the bay thus our transfer ashore was via small tender. Consequently our transfer was dictated by the crew of Queen Elizabeth and I hand it to them; they were extremely well organised.

As we arrived at the small dock we were again greeted by a Maori ‘native’.

Our first stop was the Haruru Falls. They were not at full flow due to a several month drought but they were still very pretty.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to stay long as we were heading out to the Waimate Mission.

This is the site of the first mission in New Zealand. (Typical colonial intrusion into others’ way of life)!

It was interesting though and became a very pleasant diversion. Morning tea of scones, cream and tea was included; as if we were in need of yet more food.

From there it was onto the Waipoua Forest to see the Kauri trees. These are closely akin to the Australian Kari trees.

This forest is deeply engrained in Maori culture and hold significant meaning for the Maori people.

We visited the largest tree in the forest and were given the history of it’s’ life. The tree itself really was impressive and a sight to behold.

Our next stop was at a Copthorne Resort for ……………… Yep, you got it more food. We were served a magnificent buffet lunch in a truly idyllic setting.

The food was fantastic and the views to die for.

Our journey back to the ship was a leisurely drive through this magnificent part of the world.

We had a couple of hours to spare so before returning to the ship we took the shuttle bus into to local town and had a look around.

Then it was back on the tender and ‘all aboard’ for the final two days at sea; destination Sydney Harbour!