Bay of islands

MWe arrived at the airport to pick up the car in good time. A grumpy lady picked up In a shuttle bus and took us to pick up the car. 

An Irish man called Ivan helped us with the paperwork and we were shown to a bright yellow Mazda. In true 'us' style we got the most garish car on the road!it was comfy enough, we set off on Highway 1 to Paihia. We saw a beautiful sunset and tackled a number of steep bends along the way but 4 hours later we'd been to paihia countdown and were eating jacket potatoes in Mousetrap Backpackers. 

We set off the next day for the Fullers Dolphin cruise to the hole in the rock. We arrived at the maritime building to jump on the 'dolphin explorer' boat. It was a really nice big boat. We set off into the bay. The views were spectacular and the weather amazing. 

On the boat cruise 

Blue ocean!

View from the boat 

More views!

The map of the hole in the rock cruise

The hole in the rock 

The weather meant we could go through the hole! 

Out the other side!

Hole In the rock in the distance

Wild baby seal!

We stopped for a walk around one of the smaller islands 

Lookout point over the water 

Looking out over the bay of islands 

The view from our beach in Paihia 

That evening we went for our final dinner out. We started with a cocktail at a beachside restaurant. I had a blueberry gin and tonic and Amy had a 'Cinderella' with vodka! Mm yum! 

Cocktails with a blanket

The Cinderella

The gorgeous sunset

We watched sunset but got a little chilly (it is winter after all). Then we headed for dinner at a littl restaurant called 'Only Seafood' I had read great reviews on tripadvisor and it definitely didn't disappoint. 

We had a starter of pumpkin and tomato soup with mussels 

Yum!

And a whole flounder with caper sauce for main. 

Enjoying the food!

And a chocolate mousse for pudding!

This 'last supper' was delightful. So yummy and just perfect setting :) we had a bottle of Lindauer to celebrate the end of our trip. Brilliant!

The banana! The next day was a trip to Cape Reinga, the tip of the North Islansd. The journey was quite long, but very scenic with tons of bends! 

We made it to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, just with enough time for the rain to chuck it down, we retreated to the banana for safety and warmth to emerge again 15 minutes later when the sky was blue once more

Here we are with a sign showing how far it is to London ! (18029 km!) 

At the most northern tip of North Island

Where the Tasman sea flows into the Pacific ocean and makes this whirlpool effect!

On the way back to Paihia we went to 90 mile beach, this is literally what it says in the name. Coaches and cars (we weren't sure about the Banana) can drive up and down for miles, and there's just nothing, it's eerie but still beautiful

There are sand dunes you can body board down (verycool) 

It stretched for miles!!

We stopped for an ice cream (as Brits do in winter!)yum! And headed back to Paihia to pack our bags and to have our favourite Vanuatuu dinner (Tuna omlette :))