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Auckland without the bishop
Our journey from Rotorua took the long way round via the famous Glow-Worm caves at Waitomo. We'd decided to do just the main cave, as we had more journey to do. We were taken through a typical limestone cave - the ones at Cheddar came to mind at once - with stalactities and stalagmites, but nothing particularly special until the lights were turned out and you could see the tiny spots of light on the roof, hundreds and hundreds of them. We climbed into a boat and were floated downstream in the dark, with more and more glowing creatures visible, an amazing sight. Later we found there were several glow-worm caves in New Zealand and that this was by no means a unique phenomenon. But it was fun to do: the boat took us back out of the cave and we walked back to the car and continued our journey. We took the alternative route north, less direct but with much less traffic, and we were in Auckland by about three. We went straight to our guest house, and spent the rest of the day resting and going out for a 
very good meal. Next day we packed up, loaded the car and drove into the middle of the city to visit the Sky Tower, one of New Zealand's best known landmarks. In the entrance was a Maori style carving as a kind of symbolic entry point: and from the top we could see the whole city laid out beneath, including a view of a motorway junction to rival Spaghetti! Fortunately our route out avoided this: after taking a great many pictures we returned to the car and drove out over the harbour bridge which we'd seen from the tower, and on our way up to the Bay of Islands. The journey wasn't too far, so we decided to take a detour and visit the little village of Russell, once a notorious port and place of sailor's doubtful pleasures. This turned out to involve a long trip on a very winding road round some very pretty coast. My knee prevented a long look around, and my sister wasn't too bothered, so we stayed but briefly and then headed for Paihia where our final Homestay in New Zealand was. We followed the more major road, and suddenly found it ended abruptly at an inlet, where a car ferry would take you across! This wasn't marked on our main map, though we later found it on the little tourist leaflet we'd been given. We decided to take the ferry, which cost little and took only about ten minutes, and after this diversion we were soon at the Homestay. Our hosts were charming people: Sheelagh had been to a private girl's boarding school in Petworth, Sussex, and was very much in the English mould. We were invited to join her and John for wine and nibbles before we went out for a meal. In fact we'd been planning a DIY supper, and had bought supplies for it, but we felt it wasn't really appropriate in our beautifully furnished bedroom and so we went out up the
coast a little and sat in deteriorating weather eating bread and ham and very little else. Next day we were booked on a cruise in the Bay of Islands. We were down at the quay in good time, but there was a huge organised tour there even earlier, so they all marched on board first and we didn't get very good seats. However, it was a good cruise to start with: we saw some bottle-nosed dolphins, though they weren't very playful, and then headed out to the famous 'hole in the rock'. The sea was a little choppy and we couldn't go through the hole, but we did back into it and had the sensation of being in a cave open at both ends. The journey back was a little long, with explanations about various islands about which we didn't really want to know. But on the whole it was an enjoyable morning. 
We did a little driving round in the afternoon, and then had some wine and nibbles with our hosts: then we went out for an excellent meal to one of the restaurants they'd recommended. We had a lovely roast with no fewer than six vegetables, very welcome as these had been rather in short supply over the last few days. Next morning it was an early start back to Auckland. We'd virtually packed the night before, and were a little dismayed by traffic in places: but we'd been shown a less busy route, and so it proved. We were at the airport in good time to hand the car in and check in for the flight to Sydney: and thus ended our holiday in Aotearoa New Zealand.
very good meal. Next day we packed up, loaded the car and drove into the middle of the city to visit the Sky Tower, one of New Zealand's best known landmarks. In the entrance was a Maori style carving as a kind of symbolic entry point: and from the top we could see the whole city laid out beneath, including a view of a motorway junction to rival Spaghetti! Fortunately our route out avoided this: after taking a great many pictures we returned to the car and drove out over the harbour bridge which we'd seen from the tower, and on our way up to the Bay of Islands. The journey wasn't too far, so we decided to take a detour and visit the little village of Russell, once a notorious port and place of sailor's doubtful pleasures. This turned out to involve a long trip on a very winding road round some very pretty coast. My knee prevented a long look around, and my sister wasn't too bothered, so we stayed but briefly and then headed for Paihia where our final Homestay in New Zealand was. We followed the more major road, and suddenly found it ended abruptly at an inlet, where a car ferry would take you across! This wasn't marked on our main map, though we later found it on the little tourist leaflet we'd been given. We decided to take the ferry, which cost little and took only about ten minutes, and after this diversion we were soon at the Homestay. Our hosts were charming people: Sheelagh had been to a private girl's boarding school in Petworth, Sussex, and was very much in the English mould. We were invited to join her and John for wine and nibbles before we went out for a meal. In fact we'd been planning a DIY supper, and had bought supplies for it, but we felt it wasn't really appropriate in our beautifully furnished bedroom and so we went out up the
coast a little and sat in deteriorating weather eating bread and ham and very little else. Next day we were booked on a cruise in the Bay of Islands. We were down at the quay in good time, but there was a huge organised tour there even earlier, so they all marched on board first and we didn't get very good seats. However, it was a good cruise to start with: we saw some bottle-nosed dolphins, though they weren't very playful, and then headed out to the famous 'hole in the rock'. The sea was a little choppy and we couldn't go through the hole, but we did back into it and had the sensation of being in a cave open at both ends. The journey back was a little long, with explanations about various islands about which we didn't really want to know. But on the whole it was an enjoyable morning. 
We did a little driving round in the afternoon, and then had some wine and nibbles with our hosts: then we went out for an excellent meal to one of the restaurants they'd recommended. We had a lovely roast with no fewer than six vegetables, very welcome as these had been rather in short supply over the last few days. Next morning it was an early start back to Auckland. We'd virtually packed the night before, and were a little dismayed by traffic in places: but we'd been shown a less busy route, and so it proved. We were at the airport in good time to hand the car in and check in for the flight to Sydney: and thus ended our holiday in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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