Boating in the Bay of Islands

Family Holiday to Paihia

The last time we planned to go on a family holiday, the whole country suddenly had to go into another lockdown - which meant no travelling for anyone. So as the days got closer and closer to when we were planning to go for the second time, we were worried that someone out there would get Coronavirus and we'd need to cancel again.

But luckily it didn't happen and on a Friday morning when I should have been at school, instead we were packing up the car and driving north to Paihia in the Bay of Islands.

The drive took a long time, but to break the journey up we visited some cool glowworm caves on the way up. We each got given lanterns to hold as we walked through these cold, drippy rock tunnels. The guide told us that the glowworm spit (which they use to catch insects to eat) would also poison and kill people. That made me pay a bit more attention to where I was touching.

We reached Paihia later in the day and met up with our holiday companions: Grandma and Grandad. The weather forecast wasn't great, but so far so good... until the next morning. We'd planned to take a short boat trip across to Russell. It's such a short ride you can even see the town from where we were staying on the other side!

You can see me in the picture above just after we reached Russell. Luckily they didn't leave me stuck there, because that was the last bit of clear skies we had before it started pouring down with rain. It kept raining all the way through the day, including when we were sloshing around the Russell town and sitting soaking wet in the bumpy boat ride back to Paihia. There were even lightning storms later in the afternoon.

The next morning we were a bit worried about what we'd see when we opened the curtains. Pouring rain or shining sun? Hooray, it was clear skies and sunshine! Today we were off on a boat trip around the islands out to the Hole in the Rock, hopefully to see some dolphins and whales.

It was so nice at the start, sitting in the lovely warm sun and enjoying the calm seas... until we got round the corner of the islands and headed out more to open sea. Then it became more like a rollercoaster, with the boat bumping up and down on the waves. One minute you're looking high up into the sky, the next looking straight down into the water.

It was so bumpy, it would have been too dangerous for the boat to go through the Hole in the Rock. We did see it though, in the picture above... which was also about two seconds before William was sick, covering his chair and himself with bits of his breakfast. Poor little fella's tummy just didn't like those bumps. At least we saw some dolphins though, and he was back to his usual hungry self by the time we stopped for lunch on an island.

While William obviously doesn't like bumpy seas, one thing he does like is Maori culture. So the next day we took the short drive to Waitangi to visit the famous treaty grounds. He especially loved the Maori cultural show we watched in the meeting house. I had to leave part-way through - it was too loud for me!

So that was our autumn family holiday. It was a bit short, but full of adventure. We all had lots of fun, but I think maybe I've changed my mind about wanting to be a pirate and live on the high seas.