Hard to believe, but today was our last port of call for this 21 day cruise. The next time we pull up to a port, we will be getting off the ship in Sydney! It has been an amazing journey, and today’s port was another beautiful part. We arrived in Bay of Islands early this morning, and we tendered in to the little city of Paihia. This area has a great deal of cultural significance to the indigenous (Māori) people, as it was where their chief signed the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document in 1840. *Side bar: He later tried to revoke his signature on this no-so-hot-for-natives document, but was not allowed to do so, so he settled for repeatedly chopping down British flagpoles. 😯 It is STILL being debated under current laws.

Rob and I had tickets to do a kayaking shore excursion thru the Waitangi Estuary to a waterfall. It was a perfect, mostly sunny and cool day. We nearly missed our excursion due to crazy long tender lines!

We ended up being just in time, and got geared up and spent a few hours paddling up and down the estuary, which was really pretty.

NZ has no indigenous mammals (except two bat species !!) so wildlife watching is pretty limited here, but there are a ton of birds. We especially enjoyed watching the spoonbills, which walk along and sift the sand with their beaks while looking for food.

We made it to the falls! Very pretty, and a nice paddle.

After we returned from the paddle, we spent some time checking out the little town of Paihia. This area is the gateway for the many islands that make up the “Bay of Islands”, so there was a lot of ferry activity in the harbor and some shops and restaurants, as well as the Māori cultural center and Waitangi Treaty Signing center.

We caught the last tender back to the ship and hit the hot tub right away to ease the paddling aches as we sailed away. What a life! After another brilliant sunset, we watched some more good shows tonight. We now have two more days at sea before our arrival (and the end of our cruise) in Sydney!

Thanks for adventuring with us!