Tuesday 8th May

My gosh, I can't believe it's the 8th of May already! Time is certainly flying! I'm back in Auckland for tonight, just arrived on the bus. Auckland is just a stopover before I head to Rotorua tomorrow.
I had a fantastic day yesterday. We went in search for dolphins and found loads! Two pods infact. Both of which were Bottlenose dolphins and absolutely huge! I really never expected them to be about 6 foot each! Unfortunately the pod had young so we were unable to dive in and snorkel with them, but we were able to admire them from the top deck! I'm sure that the dolphins were showing off! They followed the boat for about half an hour.
For the remainder of the day we cruised around the tranquil Bay of Islands, which included an expert manoever by the skipper through the hole in the rock! I have photos but this computer is ancient so I can't upload them, I will try later in the week. It was a beautiful sunny day which made the Islands look peaceful and very inviting! Lunch was on a remote Island, a few of us decided to hike to the top to admire the views over a luke warm sandwich. It felt like we were on the film set of 'Lost' at one point as the sun was blazing down and no evidence of life for miles. Fortunately we had a boat to make a gettaway before encountering 'the others'!!! I did find the skeleton of a puffa fish which I paraded round the group, it was very spikey oh and it smelt a little! The water was freezing though, I did have good intentions of swimming however I was a bit of a chicken and ventured only to my waist. So all in all a great day. I can see why tourists return year after year to Paihia.
This morning I wandered along the beach in the opposite direction, with the sun shining it was a gentle stroll for only an hour before I settled down with my book to wait for the bus. So I've checked in and only here for the night before I begin my trip South through New Zealand.