Coming to you live from the 7th floor of the Auckland Heritage Hotel in downtown Auckland, New Zealand. Today we finished Phase #1 of our trip by completing our tour of the north island.
We started the day in Whangarei - just about halfway between Auckland and the very tip of the north island. We took a 2 hour drive up the coast to the Bay of Islands. We started in Paihia - the central point of the region. Incredible. Small, tiny islands off the eastern coastline. Endless activites - hiking, helicopter rides, jetboating, ferrying between islands -- all good stuff.
We took a short drive over to Haruru Falls and then onto Mount Bledsoe. I hope the pictures can tell the story below. We then worked our way back to Auckland for late afternoon arrival. The city reminds me alot of Sydney, Australia. There is a Harbor Bridge into the main town. You can also climb the bridge - as you can (and we did) in Sydney.
We walked down to the main harbor for dinner. Again, very similar to Sydney. Outside restaurants lined the horseshoe-shaped Viaduct Basin. We met up with some running friends of ours (Cindy & Tom) from the Antartica trip. We had a great dinner together catching up.
I feel really good about the North Island and what we were able to see in 5 days. From the geysers in Rotorua, rainbow trout fishing in Taupo, the unique town of Napier, the loop around the Coromandel Region, and then the great small towns of Northland.
It's on to Auckland for a couple days. Keep the faith!
Paihia Harbor
Paihia
Haruru Falls
Overlooking Mount Bledsoe
Bay of Islands
Auckland from the Harbor Bridge
Viaduct Harbor
No jet boating? I've heard it's a blast...
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