A four-hour drive north from Auckland, you'll find a green land coves and bays and islands.
On the way to Bay of Islands we stopped at a Gypsy camp. We were rather impressed by the types of vehicles modern-day gypsies use. We particularly liked this two-story model made of wood. If you look closely, you can see Kevin on the sun deck.
Just before we arrived at our destination, we took a ferry from Opura to Russell.
One main goal was to visit the vacation house (or bach) of Mike's childhood friend, Tom Carpenter. When our traveling party saw this rather rustic house, they took off for the familiarity of a motel in nearby Russell. Mike stayed at the bach for the two nights.
The bach was rustic, but at the same time high-tech, with a self-sufficient solar power system and self-contained water system for its outdoor bathtub and toilet. Take a tour of the bach.
Our main introduction to the Bay of Islands was an all-day cruise that took us to about a dozen places and introduced us to the fine art of boom-netting.
We then visited Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, a set of geysers, hot pools, and hot mud bogs displayed by the native Maori people.
In Auckland, we also visited the giant Skytower, a most impressive tower over 1000 feet.
One morning in Auckland, we went to the top floor restaurant of our hotel to have breakfast. We looked out the window and there was a guy (a window washer?) there hanging from a rope. He waved and went down the rope. A few minutes later another guy came by and waved. Then another guy zipped by, possibly out of control.
We went back to our room and discovered that our hotel, the Novotel, features RAP jumping. You can walk down the side of our ten-story hotel using a rope. None of us tried it.
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