Bay of Islands

After a good night's sleep, we decided we would head down to the waterfall near our campsite for a swim. It seemed a bit odd to swim in a river but we were assured it was perfectly safe. We survived to tell the tale so I guess it was!!! It was chilly but invigorating. We had a chat with a couple of ladies who were cycling round the north island. Now there's an idea...
We decided we would take the ferry to Russell for the day. We hadn't realised that there is a passenger ferry and a vehicle ferry and that they leave from different places. Once we found the passenger ferry, we were soon on our way over to Russell. It was a gloriously sunny day and the sea was a beautiful blue. When we arrived in Russell, we decided to go on a little minibus tour of the island. Our guide, Steve, was a Russell native and was very informative as this rickety old minibus bombed up and down the hills. After the tour, we popped in to the fish and chips shop with the intention of sitting on the beach to eat them. However, the thunderstorm that had been looming for the last hour or so chose that moment to kick in and boy did it rain!! We ran back to the ferry and crossed back over to Paihai with the storm in full force. We were soaked by the time we arrived back at the camper. Still, the fish and chips were still warm so we tucked in as the rain battered down on the roof.
Once the storm had subsided, we headed off to our campsite for the night. This was down the coast a little in Waipu Cove. After getting a bit lost, we found the site. The owner told us that the beach was just over the mud... We wondered why on earth people would walk through mud to get to a beach but we did and we saw why. The beach was deserted, white sand and blue ocean as far as you can see. It was quite choppy so we opted for jumping the high waves rather than attempting to swim. Back to the camper and another early night... Being on holiday is pretty exhausting :)