Bay of islands

Our good friends Hannah and Dave, who were married at Alnwick Castle on the 15th December, wisely chose to Honeymoon in New Zealand, and arrived last week. After finishing up at work for Xmas, we headed up to the Bay of Islands together to spend the weekend before xmas sightseeing. We stopped off at Wenderholm Regional park on the way up:



Hannah and Dave booked us into an amazing apartment with panoramic views and a huge spa tub!






The main attractions in the Bay of Islands are water-based, so we hopped onto a day trip on a catarmaran to sail around the bay and see several pods of dolphins:



The boat



The view from the boat



Dave, ready to dive into the "refreshing" sea



Relaxing on deck

We spent our final day at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. This is a historic place in New Zealand as it marks the site at which Maori chiefs signed a treaty passing sovereignty of New Zealand to the British. The site is now a national monument and is in a stunning setting:



At the treaty grounds



The flagpoles on Waitangi's lawn



Haruru falls, next to Waitangi