A day at the bay

We are still at Bay of Islands today. It was cloudy with drizzling rain and turned into really raining today. We ventured out anyway! 

With the cloudy sky and misty rain we braved our way into Paihia

On the way we spied a ship the was no longer sea worth, but certainly note worthy as it perched on the sand of the bay

My sister Karla would really have loved this beach as the shells came up to the road and we’re plentiful. It makes me think that the tides must gets quite high some times

Even though the weather was not ideal, kite surfer were out this morning in full wetsuits 

This guy caught our attention and Dale used an app he has to find out he was called a variable oyster catcher

We made it into town. It was about a thirty minute walk, but we enjoyed stretching our legs. Too many days on a bus for us, I guess.

They had some nice sculptures around the wharf area.

We took a ferry over to Russell. It is across a part of the bay

We liked the entrance from the wharf in Russell. I am sure this carving has special meaning, but I did not find out what it was.

Russell has that Victorian small sea town feel as you walk down the wharf.

I could almost feel the slower pace of these towns up in this area

We decided to have an early lunch

Over lunch Dale brought up that he thought KK the kangaroo should have a name change, so after some discussion, it was decide her name should be Asta.  Is a pretty name, and powerful

There are fun reminders all over that this started out and still is a sea town

There little library and museum were  just off the Main Street

This place fits with the origins of this town. When it first was founded it rivaled the old west towns in the USA for lawlessness and wildness 

As we walked back toward the wharf we found this totally fun shop with this delightful proprietor 

It was totally yummy and we had to sample some of her wares. She makes her own chocolates right there in the shop.

This was the main hotel from early on and I wonder if it has the same shady past as the town, which was nicknamed the red light town when it was in it’s early days. 

Their sign indicates it may have been less than reputable at one time, but now the town has a very sweet feel to it and the people were quite nice.

We took the ferry back to Paihia and I noticed these guys as we walked off the wharf, don’t know how I missed them on our way out to the ferry the first time.

Like in Russell the house you see from the larger road through town have an old world type charm

Again the flora over here is so different for me, I am just amazed. Asta just had to climb in among the tree’s forks.

We wandered down a couple of covered alleys which made up their mall

It is amazing that walking the same ways back to our resort as we walk to get into town new things were noticed. This painting on the rocks was just stunning

The kite surfers had gone, but that was not surprising as the wind was blowing much more strongly and a bigger storm was on it’s way in

This guy was just stretching his wings. We think he was a cormorant 

And so we beat the majority of the storm and arrived back at our resort before the downpour started. We have spent the evening in our room as it has been a heavy rain. Tomorrow we head back to Auckland and the last bus ride for this tour.