Bay of islands and dolphins

Hi everyone,
we have driven up to the Bay of Islands for 4 nights camping in Paihia. lovely scenery but a bit like Devon.

yesterday we drove up to the far north, although not the whole way up but stopped at the bottom of 90 mile beach (its the one where you can get a bus tour and drive down it. think i'd get bored after about 5 miles) and also had a walk and visited the Kauri showroom, which is wood preserved in peat for 35,000 years. didn't feel like buying a kauri doorstop but nearly bought a small fluffy kiwi (the bird not a human)

Today we went SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS! it was about 100 dollars for 4 hours and there were loads, although we couldn;t swimm with the first pod (bottlenose)we found because it had a baby, the 1st of the season, and it was only 2 or so days old! and they were right there underneath and beside the boat, and doing jumps. camera not taking piictures quick enough so i gave up. a bit like sunsets, a lot better to see it in person anyway. then we went out and saw common dolphins outside the bay , and we got in the water with them with snorkels on, i saw 4 but not very close. the water was very very cold quite a shock to the system as you jump in all the staff shouting GO GO GO GO! at everyone. actually a bit like surfing in easter in the UK.
quite an experience for the last day of the year.
we had the afternoon in Russell over the water from paihia, a nice posh village/town with clapboard houses and church. got the papers and read them over a cup of tea. how ironic james brown and saddam dying in the same week.

for tonight we have booked a table right on the waterfront for dinner at 9. the NZ lamb sounds good. then at 12 there is fireworks on the beach. its not too warm here but about like british summer weather really. although some of the more tarty backpackers are still parading around in miniskirts and bikinis like they haven't realised the kiwi summer hasn't kicked in yet. at least i hope it hasn't kicked in yet.
there was a freak accident on boxing day a dolphin jumped onto a boat and critically injured a woman, she;s still in intensive care broke all her ribs along with a whole load of other stuff. a 1 in 3million chance apparently.

we are camping in a hostel in Paihia, using their facilities. its a small quiet hostel but unfortunately we are hemmed in between two tents of snorers. on one side are 2 young kiwi blokes who only live for beer i think and who have the loudest voices ever. they are so disgusting it puts you right off men. oh happy anniversary honey! 2 years today. ;-)