6 February
Picked up our car expecting a medium size Toyota and drove out with a double upgrade to a 4x4 Toyota RAV so no worries fitting our luggage in! The drive from Auckland to Russell and The Bay of Islands took 3 hours through scenic countryside. It included going through the only toll in NZ. We had been told to pay electronically at a motorway service centre which we did with quite a lot of other people. Then the toll itself was simply a set of cameras on a gantry over the road. So quite different to the UK but not popular at all in NZ! The final part of our journey was by car ferry
Russell is very quaint, quite small and with lots of history. We are staying in a delightful 4 bedroom guest lodge “boutique style”. Every evening the owners and guests share a glass or two of local wine and canapes so it is very civilised and friendly. It is only a few hundred yards from the centre and the waterfront, where the views across the water are beautiful. Because of this sitting, drinking and chatting we were a bit late going out to eat and couldn't get a table overlooking the waterfront so we settled on getting fish and chips and eating them at the end of the pier!
Note – there was a problem with the internet connection yesterday hence the blog getting a bit behind. We were amused that Bert noticed as we didn't think anyone would be following it. Cheers Bert!!
Monday, 7 February
Breakfast outside and then a walk to the top of Flagstaff Hill to see the famous flagpole where a couple of hundred years ago the Maoris cut the British flagpole down 4 times before the Brits gave up and then a few years later the Maoris put it back themselves! The views across the water and out to some islands were well worth the exertion in the heat and humidity. Steve wanted to take the long way back so we are now updating the blog while we recover. Did we mention that it is very hot here, probably top 20sC but really sticky because The Bay of Islands is sub tropical?
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