Skip to main content

YOLO New Zealand @ Bay of Island - Day 2

We had a full day excursion exploring the Bay of Islands and its turquoise water. This subtropical region is known for its great beaches and history and with over 144 islands to explore, it is really a great option to get out and view the best of them. Through Flying Kiwi, we booked a tour that sail us out to the Bay of Island and includes a fun session swimming with the dolphins. 

We started our journey from Paihia Harbour together with several others from Flying Kiwi group. We were quick to get along with one another and made new friendship through this journey.




Cruising route 

perfect weather out to the sea



beautiful day 

It was a super sunny day and I think no amount of sunscreen would be enough to prevent sun-burn. As soon as we started sailing, the cooling breeze embraced us. While cruising, the captain provide us with insightful information about the sea creatures, rock formations and even the sea-birds that lived within the area. Soon, we reached a calmer bay near a beach where the ship docked to allow us to interact with the dolphins. As I've signed up for the "swim-with-the-dolphins" activity, I was feeling extremely excited when people shouted "dolphins in sight!"

This was my first experience jumping into the ocean and swimming without any life jacket. The first splash into the ocean, I shivered...damn the water was simply too cold. Furthermore, the water was not exactly turquoise and hence it's kinda dark and hard for me to spot the dolphins. Nevertheless, I had to keep swimming in order to catch up with these wild dolphins. It was really tiring and hence a good stamina is definitely required should you sign up for this activity. 

Although I came quite close to the dolphins on a few occasion, I was not able to touch it. These dolphins are protected wildlife in NZ and hence extra care must be exercised so as to not hurt them. Anyway, these dolphins were huge and adorable. They simply love playing with us, humans. 










That's me trying to catch some shots of these dolphins





We then visited the famous "Hole in the rock" at Cape Brett. It was really a phenomenal sight. Sprouting proudly out of the Pacific Ocean off the wild end of the Bay of Islands' Cape Brett is Motukokako (Piercy Island) as it was named by James Cook. This is a island dominated by its sheer cliffs that rise 148m out of the sea. It's likely Motukokako would've been considered just another big rock in the ocean had that same ocean not carved out a spectacular 16m high hole at its South-western end. 

Check out the pictures below and you will definitely want to make a trip there. 















We next headed towards another beautiful place, Urupukapuka Island. This island offers a paranormal view of Bay of Island and leaves a lasting impression in my mind till this day. I would love to revisit this island again. It was a paradise island. 

Some facts of the island: 

Urupukapuka’s diversity of archaeological sites and their good state of preservation makes it one of New Zealand’s most significant archaeological islands. There are at least eight pa on headlands, numerous surface features such as garden sites and storage pits. These are all easily accessible from the shore on an interpreted walk.

It was an important hub with satellite communities on Waewaetorea and Okahu. The island was a gateway for arrivals by sea from the south. Its many sandy beaches with easy access to headlands and extensive land for gardening and the number of sites suggest that Urupukapuka was densely populated by Maori and was likely to have provided them an excellent living.































The above island was our last stop as we slowly cruise back to Paihia harbour. Along the way, we saw more rock landscapes, dolphins and a small shark, as well as many sea birds. 















My favorite drink in NZ



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mauritius, An Island of Emotion

Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of the African continent. Together with my Diva friend, we travelled to Mauritius in 2014 for our first ever girls trip or what we called as our "Elephant & Hippo Honeymoon". Although Mauritius is an island, the entire island is at least twice bigger than Singapore. Flights to Mauritius are somewhat limited. The airlines that flew to Mauritius include Air Mauritius, Emirates, British Airway and Air France. From Singapore, it took about 10 hours to reach Mauritius, including an hour transit at KL. Despite the long haul flight, I would say Mauritius is worth the visit at least once in your lifetime. I'm glad to have traveled with my Diva friend to this exotic place.   Having some photo fun at Changi Airport    Having some photo fun at Changi Airport  The air ticket for Air Mauritius wasn't cheap. In fact for the air ticket price paid, we could have...
3 comments
Read more

Jeju, an island of love and romance Day 2

From its summery island beaches to its statuesque Hallasan Mountain, verdant O'Sulloc green tea fields, and its iconic Sunrise Peak @ Seongsan IIchubang, Jeju Island is an icon in South Korea. Not forgetting the famous Jeju tangerine, a citrus fruit lauded across Jeju island at large. Hence, we decided to go to a local tangerine farm to find out.  I couldn't quite remember the name of the tangerine farm but it took us quite some time to locate it. The farm was near a neighborhood where every household grew their own tangerine trees at their yard/garden. It was quite a sight as this was my first time seeing a tangerine tree.  Anyway, if you like oranges and the idea of trampling through the orchards in search of that perfect fruit, then you've got to come during the tangerine season (which is like from November onwards). Tangerine picking in my opinion is quite an inexpensive activity in Jeju. We googled this tangerine farm not far from the city where tourists and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mauritius, An Island Of Emotion @ Chamarel, Black River Gorges and great Seafood lunch

1. Seven Coloured Earth @ Charamel The Seven Coloured Earth is a geological formation and prominent tourist attraction found in the Chamarel Plain of Riviere Noire District in South-western Mauritius. How interesting!   It is in fact a relatively small area of sand dunes comprising sand of seven distinct colours (i.e. red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow). In fact, the colours are dependent on the sunlight. The main feature of the place is that since these differently coloured sands spontaneously settle in different layers, dunes acquire a surrealistic, striped colouring. At the entrance of the Seven Coloured Earth, there is this beautiful Chamarel Waterfall. Although this is not the most magnificent waterfall that I've seen, this waterfall is the highest in Mauritius.  Pineapples sticking out from the bushes  Red Pineabpple, How Unique  Chamarel Waterfall The Chamarel also has quite a number of gigantic tur...
Post a Comment
Read more