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Travel Bay of Islands
Treasure
islands
If you want pristine beaches, divine food, high adventure and a place steeped in
history, look no further than our very own northern jewel, the Bay of Islands.
S TO RY V I R G I N I A L A R S O N
Aerial view of Okahu
Island, one of about
144 islands dotting
the picturesque east
coast horizon.
44 Kia Ora February 2021 45
Travel Bay of Islands
4. The Duke of
distractions – bobbing little blue penguins, Marlborough on
silver flashes of fish, and gannets gliding the the Russell seafront.
5. Inside Te Kōngahu,
updrafts or circling in thermals.
the Museum of
Dolphins love a harbour cruise, where Waitangi. 6. Christ
they can surf the boat’s wake and perform Church at Russell.
acrobatics for the crowds. The motivation 7. Te Rau Aroha
for this playful behaviour, even marine museum. 8. Waitangi
Treaty House.
mammal experts agree, is dolphins’ sense of
curiosity and plain old-fashioned fun. So
make like the dolphins and switch to fun and
curiosity mode – what better guide to a Bay
of Islands getaway.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Nearly 80 years after Cook sharpened a
feather quill and marked Bay of Islands on
his New Zealand map, naturalist Charles
Darwin sailed into the harbour, landing first
at Russell – then called Kororāreka and 4
1 infamous for being the largest and roughest
whaling port in the Southern Hemisphere.
Darwin summed up the settlement’s Alternatively, buy a craft beer at the bar then
BAY OF ISLANDS. You can blame Captain regales us with history, ecology and a few seafaring and grog-shop rabble as “the very park yourself at a beachfront table and
James Cook for this most prosaic of names, well-spun sailor’s yarns while pointing out refuse of society” and promptly decamped watch the people, boats and clouds pass by.
given to Northland’s magnificent natural landmarks big and small as we skim over to the buttoned-up missionary settlement At the Russell Museum, pick up a Heritage
harbour in 1769 when the Endeavour ever-changing intensities of blue. across the water at Paihia. Trail pamphlet and take a leisurely wander
anchored off the Russell peninsula. Still, “Nine Pin,” he says, waving a nut-brown What a difference a century or so makes. back through history: up Flagstaff Hill,
you can’t fault Cook for accuracy. At last arm in the direction of a shark fin-shaped Today, Russell is a village of around 750 where Hōne Heke felled the flagpole four
count there were 144 islands spilling out to rock. “So called because it’s exactly nine permanent residents, many occupying times in protest against the British; and to
the horizon – some little more than rocky nautical miles from the old Russell post gabled heritage houses with neatly clipped Pompallier Mission, an 1842 rammed-earth
6
outcrops, others supporting holiday office.” We skirt Moturua Island, with its 27 lawns and roses rambling over white picket building, where Catholic missionaries busily
retreats, farms or regenerating native archaeological sites and evidence of New fences. Even with the influx of summer printed te reo Māori translations of religious
bush now thrumming with birdsong. Zealand’s very earliest Polynesian settlers at visitors, it has a gentrified and villagey vibe texts through the mid-1800s. The French-
The islands and settlements scattered lovely Mangahāwea Bay; then Motuarohia, – helped by its historic places restrictions style pioneer printer has been restored to full
around the bay all have their stories, a good one of a chain of islands to benefit from the and lack of reticulated water, which limit working order, as has the tannery, once used
many of which you’ll hear when you hitch a work of local conservation group Project big developments. to make leather for book and Bible covers.
ride on one of the harbour cruises that sail Island Song. Besides a profusion of native Everyone gravitates to the Duke of Follow your own “cemetery trail”;
out of Paihia. The skipper of our catamaran birds it’s now home to a 128-strong Marlborough Hotel – “refreshing rascals reading the gravestone inscriptions is like
translocation of giant wētā, our captain and reprobates since 1827” – because it’s eavesdropping on a slice of our ruffian,
adds, rather too enthusiastically. Nervous smack-bang on the waterfront and you rollicking, hard-scrabble and God-fearing
glances are exchanged among the bean-bag can dine on its wide verandah, choosing pioneer past. You’ll inevitably find your way
5 7
loafers on the foredeck. But we’re too chilled from locally sourced, seasonal produce, to Russell’s Christ Church – built in 1835,
to ponder the frisson of a mega-wētāpunga rascally good red meats and a range of which makes it the oldest church still in
encounter, and there are other wildlife seafood options befitting its location. existence in the country. It’s no lie to say
history is etched in its walls; you can trace
your fingers across musket-ball holes from
1. On a Barefoot Sailing
Adventure in the Bay of the New Zealand Land Wars.
Islands. 2. A tūī feasts
from a flax/harakeke WAITANGI WELCOME
flower. 3. Wētāpunga Across the harbour, Paihia’s pretty beach
are released as part
of work by local
parade meanders north to the Waitangi
conservation group, Treaty Grounds, where two cultures hongied,
Project Island Song. haggled, skirmished and signed – in 1840 –
the treaty that marks the beginning of New
Zealand as a nation. It was a hasty union,
based on unbridled imperialism as well as
good intentions – and misunderstandings
2 on both sides – but these now peaceful,
manicured grounds and the stories told in
3
their buildings will impress even reluctant
8
students of New Zealand history.
46 Kia Ora February 2021 47
Travel Bay of Islands
Sleep
ARCADIA LODGE
Te Kōngahu Museum brings the treaty to This graceful 1902 Russell villa is set
in lush gardens and offers five luxury
life; it’s laid out like a walk through history
suites – all with harbour views – plus
and combines a stunning collection of taonga an adjacent two-bedroom cottage.
with deeply moving audio-visual experiences. Greg Hoover and Peter Gillan are
Don’t miss the new Te Rau Aroha museum, impeccable hosts: their antique-
which marks the commitment and sacrifice meets-modern furnishings wrap
of Māori in the New Zealand Armed Forces you in luxurious comfort; 20 years
a chef, Gillan whips up arguably
through the framework of the treaty’s article
the best breakfast in the bay,
three – the price of citizenship. One of the served on the deck in summer. His
galleries is dedicated to the 28 (Māori) slow-roasted tomato and ricotta
Battalion’s A Company, most of whom came bruschetta is masterful, and when
from Northland. It is dominated by a vast Hoover sets a basket of his freshly
wall of names and faces of those who served; baked almond croissants on your
some remain silhouettes, but photos and table, kiss your willpower goodbye.
arcadialodge.co.nz
information still turn up.
Our guide tells us that last year a Kaikohe GOLDEN SAND
electrician handed over a photo of an ancestor 9 “Beachfront accommodation” is an
that filled a gap on the memorial wall. Earlier, understatement at this Cable Bay
12
a treasure trove of war diaries and photos establishment. Its five apartments
and suites are all a few jandalled
by Corporal Walter Wordley were found weekend, when the Old Packhouse Market
steps away from sand and sea, but
tucked away in his granddaughter’s house; bursts into life around 8.30am for four or the beachside cabana takes the Eat produce. If you can’t decide, there’s
a New Zealand seafood platter
Play
they help weave together the stories of “the five hours of rain-or-shine trade and live prize. It is cleverly self-contained, SAGE @ PAROA BAY BAREFOOT SAILING ADVENTURES
and a charcuterie selection that will
Gum Diggers” – the 720 men of A Company. entertainment. Local producers pile in with funkily furnished and you’ll find It’s a 15-minute drive from Russell You really do drop your shoes in a
tickle all your taste-bud fancies.
Make use of Waitangi’s “experience pass” fresh pickings from the surrounding rich yourselves cancelling that restaurant but the views over the Bay of Islands
thelindisgroup.com
plastic bin on Paihia Beach before
and join a guided tour, explore the Treaty soils and subtropical temperatures: citrus, dinner for homestyle burgers and at this hillside winery restaurant stepping barefoot onto Captain
kumara chips from the Cable Bay make the trip worthwhile. And the Luke’s 33ft catamaran Kopiko. You
House, the carved Te Whare Rūnanga of course, persimmon, feijoas, grapes, fat CHARLOTTE’S KITCHEN
store, eaten at your outdoor table. menu – short but near-perfectly won’t need them again – unless
meeting house and mighty waka taua. Then blackberries, tangy raspberries, piles of A British convict who led a mutiny
There are loaner e-bikes for a spin to formed – is all about local, sustainably you choose the walking option at the
on the ship transporting her to
linger among the stands of pōhutukawa – greens and lots of pot plants. Mangōnui but, honestly, you won’t caught fish and seafood and the lunchtime island anchorage (there’s
Tasmania in 1806, Charlotte Badger
time-capsules of formality, planted by royal Follow the hand-written chalkboards to 10 want to leave. goldensand.co.nz best of the country’s meat and was possibly the first white woman also paddle boarding, snorkelling or
visitors and a muster of governors-general sample local wines, craft beer, gourmet street to settle in New Zealand. This sunny beach-pottering on the Island
from Lord Bledisloe in the 1930s to our food and damn fine baking. The humble, yet eatery at the end of the Paihia wharf Hopper cruise). Sailing the Bay
current Governor-General Dame Patsy so-easy-to-get-wrong date scone, is made Kemp House, with its ghost stories and tales celebrates her buccaneering spirit in of Islands, nestled in a bean-bag on
Reddy. On the hill under the flagstaff is a exactly right at two locations – the Old of derring-do. As you cross the bridge, style, with themed artworks, live the trampoline-net foredeck, is pure
music nights, a menu that swings sun-kissed, wind-swept pleasure.
perfect spot to soak in the sweep of bay and Packhouse Bakery with its “famous” date re-imagine this tranquil scene as the
daringly from steamed pork buns And you’ll be in the best of hands
reflect on just how far we’ve come as a and cheese scones, and the Kerikeri Inlet’s Kororipo – “swirling waters” – it once was, if you want to try sailing the boat
to pork knuckle, and a suitably
young nation. Honey House Cafe, where we tuck into when war canoes would be propelled around swashbuckling cocktail list. or helping haul the sheets – them’s
feather-light versions and good coffee. and around in the pool, churning up the charlotteskitchen.co.nz ropes, landlubbers.
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Tear yourself away for a mosey around the water in a spectacular display before moving barefootsailing.co.nz
If you’re a history nut and a fruit bat, Kerikeri Stone Store – open for business since 1836 down the inlet ready for battle.
is your kind of town. Especially on the – and the elegantly proportioned, 1822-built Heading north to Doubtless Bay, leave
SH10 for the loop through charming little
9. Stone Store at the
Mangōnui, with its colonial courthouse, Getting there
KERIKERI
Kerikeri Mission hotel, hall, store and houses strung along P H OTO G R A P H Y G E T T Y, TA M A I R A H O O K , DA R R E N M A R K I N
Station. 10. Slow- the tree-lined waterfront drive. You’ll be
roasted tomato and tempted to hang out over the water at the
ricotta bruschetta from fish and chippery, but you have an important
Arcadia Lodge.
11. Snorkelling in the
appointment at Cable Bay: to pile into
Bay of Islands’ clear Golden Sand’s beachfront cabana and do
waters on a Barefoot absolutely nothing but swim lazily in clear
Sailing Adventures’ trip. water; ponder how the sand here truly is a Air New Zealand operates
12. Golden Sand
demerara-sugar shade of gold and the bay is daily non-stop flights to
beachfront
accommodation at actually named for being the terminus of a Kerikeri from Auckland with
Cable Bay. 13. Exploring telegraph cable from Vancouver in 1902. connections across the
one of the many Floating over a gentle swell, you’ll wonder domestic network.
beaches on offer. why this stretch of coast was found in a 2006
scientific study to have the second bluest sky Contact Centre
in the world, after Rio de Janeiro. It would 0800 737 000
Holidays Travel Brokers
11
win the contest now, we’re betting on it. 0800 737 767
13
northlandnz.com airnewzealand.co.nz
48 Kia Ora February 2021 49
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