The bucket list spot on the North Island of New Zealand is the Bay of Islands. Every person you encounter, every travel blog you read, will tell you it’s the absolute best. And they ain’t lying, folks.
Volumes have been written about the place, so I’m going to keep it short and sweet.
Start with the most turquoise water you have ever seen, like on liquid color-rich steroids.
Then drop a zillion islands into a swirling jumble of scintillating bays and coves.
The islands are usually the size of a football field and rise straight up from the water like a witch’s hat. The craggy grey rock beauties are then covered with evergreen trees, clinging precariously to their vertical homes and sprouting skyward in every direction, like wild hair.
I have seen places in Hawaii and the Caribbean that resemble the Bay of Islands. But they don’t have evergreens. So, I guess the Pacific Northwest might be as close as you could get if you ignore the fact that the northeast coast of New Zealand is warm and sunny, and the Pacific Northwest is cold, wet, and dreary.
In truth, the Bay of Islands is like no other place on earth.
We took the 11 o’clock Fuller Ferry from Paihia out to Russell Island and then on to Otehei Bay. It was a 45-minute cruise through a maze of weirdly-shaped islands. The ferry folk charged $40 for a round-trip ticket.
We landed at a long dock on Urupukapuka Island, the largest island in the Bay of Islands. In front of the ferry pier sat the Otehei Bay Bar & Cafe, the only commercial area on the island, other than a shack renting water toys like paddle boards and a tiny grass-roofed art gallery.
The island is a Department of Conservation Recreation Reserve cared for as part of Project Island Song, a partnership between local hapu Ngati Kuta and Patukeha, the Guardians of the Bay Islands community group.
According to their website: “Ngati Kuta and Patukeha are descendents of the chiefs who have lived at Te Rawhiti Rakaumangamanga for many generations. We are coastal people who have lived from the sea. Our community, values, culture and way of life are structured around the fishery and sustainable harvesting. We hold traditional knowledge and practices and now want to exercise those practices in Maunganui Bay to restore the fishery.”
Urupukapuka is certified as a pest-free island (other than the large flocks of sleepwalking sheep grazing on the grassy hillsides). Many native species, like the singing saddleback bird, the red-crowned parakeet, the North Island robin, and the brown teal duck, have been reintroduced to their traditional habitat on the island.
The island is also a designated trash-free zone.
Urupukapuka was a Māori settlement and home to the famous cowboy writer Zane Grey’s fishing camp. He loved snagging the swordfish that are still quite prevalent in the surrounding waters.
We hiked for about four hours, following the incredibly steep grassy trails dotted with hardy sheep clumps. We began our trek on the Cable Bay Loop out to a Māori Pā Site. A pā was a Māori fortified settlement, often featuring palisades and defensive terraces. Archaeologists have uncovered over 5,000 such sites around the Bay of Islands. Pā served as a crucial part of Māori society, representing a tribe’s prestige and strategic importance, while also protecting fertile areas and food supplies. As with the Aborigines of Australia, the American Indians, and virtually every primitive tribal culture under the proverbial sun, there was a lot of fighting going on throughout time.
After admiring the splendid views from on high, we followed the Urupukapuka Bay Loop Trail over to a secluded bay where I took a long swim over to a nearby island in Urupukapuka Bay. There was a camping area there where several large groups of happy men and women in their thirties had been spending the weekend together, frolicking on the beach. They had come in a fleet of small private boats, hauling their toys and lots of beer and food. They were super friendly and I chatted it up with them for a while. They all lived around Paihia and got together for a camping weekend every summer. It cost them about $50 to rent a campsite from the government.
I tried to imagine living in any place in the states where I could just round up my friends, and we could sail over to such a stunningly beautiful, secluded public place that was basically free for the taking—maybe the Florida Keys if I lived around Everglades City. But any place in America even remotely like the Bay of Islands would be crawling with bugs. New Zealand does have some nasties, though way less than the U.S. It has 16 mosquito species, including 13 native and 3 introduced. While some of these species bite humans, most primarily feed on birds. We never noticed any bugs or flies of any kind, even with all of the sheep shit on the ground.
Next, we climbed slowly up to some majestic cliffs above the island’s rocky northern coast. The panorama of islands and sparkling blue sea was like something out of a fantasy movie—”Avatar”, maybe. From our perch atop the ocean cliffs, it was all downhill back to the tikibar where we hung out and swam a bit more until the ferry arrived around five to take us home to the mainland,
We were back in the boppin’ beach town of Paihia and sitting down to a tasty fish & chips dinner on the outside waterfront patio at Zane Grey’s restaurant by six, and wishing, as we had the day before at Opononi Beach, that we had set aside a few more days of fun and sun in this wondrous and relaxing part of New Zealand.
What more can I say? The Bay of Islands is the real deal.
