November 16, Bay of Islands NZ

November 16, Bay of Islands NZ

In 1769 Captain Cook sailed into the bay for the first time, and because of the more than 140 small islands and crags in the bay, named it Bay of Islands. Cook returned several times and soon a new British colony was established. The territory was ruled from Australia. Although the new territory had gained a reputation for its bloodthirsty headhunters, word of lucrative whaling and sealing opportunities circulated throughout the South Pacific region. The move for annexation by the British crown began in 1839 when James Busby, the official New Zealand “British Resident,” and Captain William Hobson advised that the time was ripe for such a move. The historic town of Russell contains the Mission House, the oldest wooden structure still standing in New Zealand, and the Stone Store, the oldest stone building dating back to 1832. An interesting study in 2006 concluded that the Bay of Islands has the second bluest sky in the world, after Rio de Janeiro.

We did not book any tours here, as we figured that we would need to break even though we have two days at sea when we leave. As it turned out, the day dawned with overcast skies, and even though the temperatures were in the low 60’s, a brisk wind made it seem colder. We took our time getting around and caught a tender to the pier around 10am. From there it was a 5 minute ride on a shuttle bus to get into the town.

We went to the post office and mailed off some post cards, checked out the local craft market, walked about a half mile to the edge of town and bought a couple of bottles of wine. From there it was back toward the center, onto the shuttle bus and was back on board by noon.

There really isn’t much here, and in my personal opinion, a stop that could be eliminated and perhaps somewhere else substituted. There is a display at the treaty grounds that could have been interesting to see, but they charge $20 per person to see it and as this was our last NZ port we didn’t have the cash to go, in addition to feeling that the price was a bit steep.

But, it was a good day for relaxing, and with two sea days coming up we should be in fine shape for Tonga and Samoa, our next ports of call.