The endless summer

In the very northern part of NZ is a long peninsula containing what is known as the Bay of Islands. There are immaculate beaches and pristine coastline contained in this area and it is described by many as the endless summer. Relatively speaking it was quite warm up here but I wouldn't exactly describe it as summer conditions.

I was staying in a town called Paihia which is home to the Bay itself. The town is situated on the waterfront and is quite adorable. The golden sand beaches overlook the blueish/green tropical water and the weather was quite nice upon our arrival. My first day was spent soaking in some sun on the beach and braving the frigid cold waters of the bay much to the delight of the onlookers. I figured I wouldn't have many chances to swim in the Pacific down here so I might as well right?

The rest of my day was spent sorting out some activities for the next few days. The area is home to one of the top 10 dive sites in the world according to Jacque Cousteau so I was looking forward to taking a crack at that. Sorry, the "endless" summer apparently ends in the winter months when the dive trips don't really run. Well, I haven't sky dived either might as well try that out and heck, I'll even do that on the 4th of July because I doubt that I'll be seeing any fireworks down here. Sorry, plane is broken.

Guess that all I was left with were the gorgeous views of the area...I live such a hard life. I did end up taking a boat cruise around the Bay to visit the 144 islands there and got to see some tropical paradise that has remained largely untouched. The "highlight" of the tour according to the boat operator is the "Hole-in-the-Rock" which is a massive cave cutting through one of the islands in the Bay. It was cool, but the best part was hoping off the boat to walk around the largest of the islands. I hiked up to the highest point on the island to get some rather breathtaking views of the area. The island itself had some gorgeous terrain, partly blanketed in forests while some of it remained open grass land for the sheep. On top, the views of the Bay itself was awe inspiring. Crystal clear tropical water surrounded the islands with secluded golden sand beaches everywhere. Not since Abel Tasman had I seen terrain like this and I found this area to be more appealing. The nature of the islands dotted throughout the water was more beautiful to me then the coastline of Abel Tasman, in the end both are gorgeous and I felt lucky to be there on such a nice day.