Waipu to Paihia to Russell

New Zealand truly has great public transportation. You can pretty much travel anywhere via bus or train in the drop of a hat. Traveling from town to town you can catch what is known as the Inter-City Bus. Book online, in town, or over the phone and for a few dollars you're off to your next destination. It's that easy!

On Wednesday, January 9th we took the bus to Paihia in the Bay of Islands and then hopped on the 7:30 PM passenger ferry to Russell. Russell used to be the capital of New Zealand back in the early 1800's until their ports were overlooked and Auckland made the list. Russell and the surrounding area back in the late 1800's was known for whaling, missionaries with a mission, signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and so much more. This port was pivotal for all New Zealanders. Here we spent approximately 3 days drying out and taking in the sites.

Both Paul and I debated heavily over how we should utilize our tourist status. Should we hop on a tour bus and head north to Cape Reinga or take a sail on the R. Tucker-Thompson tall ship throughout the Bay of Islands (http://www.tucker.co.nz/)?
We chose to sail the open seas! Definitely the better choice. How often can do you get the chance to act like a pirate? What a neat day. At 10:00 AM we hopped on board and sailed to Motorua Reserve. There they sent us aboard their dinghy to be dropped off on Motorua while they cooked us lunch. Back on the ship Paul went swimming from a rope swing and came away unscathed! Lunch was served and we started back for Russell to end our day at 4:30 PM.

A day to remember...