North Island Adventures Part 2

So our initial plan was to go to The Bay of Islands, rent a boat, and cruise around the islands for a day, then head back the next day. Plans changed.

So first we made it to Whangarei, (here in NZ, the “wh” makes the “f” sound just like the “ph” does) and decided to stop over for the evening. This is still an hour or so south of the Bay of Islands, but we read about some fun things to do here so we decided to stay a while. Why not? We got a camper van. 

It was a little too cold and cloudy to go to beaches, so we decided to scare ourselves by going caving instead. The caves were unguided, had running water flowing through it, and were completely dark requiring us to use our headlamps to find our way. The water ranged from being ankle deep to waist deep, and it was cold! Lucky for us, and our lack of cave experience, there was only one path in and out, and it was impossible to get lost. The main attraction of the caves was glowworms, and these could be seen when we turned off our headlamps. There were some glowworms by themselves, but then there were also clusters of hundreds of glowworms that lit up the ceilings of the cave like tiny little stars. This was such a cool thing to experience, and being unguided, added extra excitement and a little bit of fear (we’ve seen one to many movies with caves, ie “The Descent”).

Once we were almost to the end of the cave, Jeremy decided to read the brochure/map of what other life we might also find in the cave…and sure enough, shortly after that we saw a fresh water eel right in the water we were walking in! Jeremy spotted it with his headlamp in the waist deep pool we had to walk through. It must have been at least 3 feet long, and it was ugly.  So now not only are we in a dark cave, we now had to wade in water knowing there’s at least one big eel in it. Eventually the eel swam under some rocks and allowed us to pass by.  We got through that pool as fast as we could! After that, we saw 3 more eels on our way out of the cave. Each time we were trying to keep our feet out of the water and use our rock climbing experience to keep us away from the eels.  We eventually made it out, and it’s a good thing Jeremy didn’t mention the eels any sooner, or I might not have gone into that cave.

The following day in Whangarei we did a small hike in the area that went through an old tree forest, along a river and to a waterfall. This forest was unique for the type of trees it had, which was called the Kauri tree. These trees are gigantic, both wide and tall, and now are being protected from getting cut down for lodging. After spending the night in Whangarei, we thought we were going to the Bay of Islands, but plans changed again, and we headed further north. We decided to go to the top of the North Island, to a spot called Cape Reinga.

After driving for hours on hilly roads with many winds and turns, we finally got to Cape Reinga. The roads here are ridiculous and they never stay straight for too long, making me (Michelle) a little car sick. We finally made it to Cape Reinga and this is where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea come together.  What a cool thing to see with waves from both waters colliding together! At the end of the peninsula there is a spectacular light house that we hiked out to.

While we were up North we read about some great fishing in the area but we were totally clueless on what to buy, what to use, where to go, and what to expect. We went to a local shop and they gave us some tips, but the fishing is much different than what we are used to. We decided to give it a try at the campground we were staying at. Since it was a little chilly and windy I carried Michelle across a small river and we fished from the rocks in order to get the bait deeper (compared to the beach).

I fished for about an hour with no luck. I was wet and cold so I was ready to pack up and head in.  I handed the pole to Michelle so I could clean up and sure enough she got a bite. I carried her across the river, I froze my ass off, I baited the hook, and SHE gets the fish? Well actually it spit the hook out after a couple minutes of fighting, but it was enough to keep us out there for another 30 minutes or so. We ended up getting a couple more bites, but couldn’t land any because we were on the rocks. The next day we tried a different spot, closer to the beach, and I was able to land a 30 inch Kahawai. Later on that day, after fishing, we hiked about an hour to a huge secluded beach and I had to go swimming since I've never been in the Tasman Sea before.

So after the 3 day detour we finally headed to The Bay of Islands. We’ve been told that the bay is nothing special from shore. If you really want to experience the bay of islands you need to do it on a boat. We found a cheap boat rental for the day. We grabbed our fishing rod and bait, a couple of pops and snacks and we were on our way. We were both anxious to catch some snapper fish so we immediately started fishing. Again, we are new to the ocean fishing and we were totally clueless on the techniques. About 10 minutes later were trying a different spot. Lets try this spot then… 20 minutes later and we’re pulling anchor to try a new spot. After some time we decided to drive around the islands and take in all that the area has to offer. The islands were beautiful and the ride was quite nice, but we still needed to catch a fish. So Michelle took control of the boat and drove us to what she said was a good fishing spot (as if she does it all the time). Sure enough after 20 minutes, Michelle pulls up a snapper. She/we were so excited to finally catch one. Our trip was complete, but a couple minutes passed and she’s pulling up another one! This one is a bit bigger. Apparently, Michelle knows what she’s doing when it come snapper fishing. 

She gave me some “tips” and with the last piece of bait I was able to pull up one as well. Mine was the biggest, but she got more. It was a great way to end the day. We got a great cruise in, had fun fishing, and got a nice meal out of it too.

We are now back at Hamish and Heather’s place in Orewa for a few days. We are looking for paying work, but if that doesn’t happen soon, we will go back to the “farm-stay” work. Hamish took me out fishing this morning and we did quite well. I caught about 6-7 snapper and Hamish got 6-7 too. I’m finally getting used to the snapper fishing here, I just hope my small cheap reel holds up.

So we have had an amazing experience so far. We are just going with the flow and taking every opportunity given to us. We are about done exploring the north part of the island and are planning to head south soon (the south part of the north island). We hope you are all enjoying this blog and we love reading the comments; keep them coming!

Picasa link: Northland Pics including Bethel's beach

Previous blog's pics: Tawharnui Regional Park