So the next location on our list was the legendary Bay of Islands, which is one of the most northernly tourist places in New Zealand, just 3 hours north of Auckland. We were told by so many people that this was a must do in New Zeland, although neither of us have done it before.
We actaually camped in a car park in the middle of a town called Pihia for the 2 days we were there - $12 for 24 hours, and we got our first ticket for free :-)
We booked on what was called the Cream trip - a full day cruising the islands, a picnic lunch on one of the nicest beaches, a visit to the Hole in the rock - the most northerly island of the Bay, and viewing thousands of Dolphins. It was well worth the money - we saw countless dolphins all playing happily, jumping, diving and causing all sorts of mischief. And we also had the best weather with sheer blue skies there were few if any clouds in the sky. We also got to sail through the hole in the rock, which was pretty tight and then saw huge schools of fish under the water feeding - a unique sight for such a trip. Our captain Billy was very amuzing telling history of the trip (which still delivers mail to the islands) and some comedic references about the crew and passangers. All in all it was one of the prettiest places we had visited, but we would still rate Abel Tasman higher...
The Bay itself and its islands are so well preserved and looked after, its a real positive point about the Green friendly Kiwis - they really do look after there country.