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Our ship did not have a January 29. On January 28, we crossed the International Date Line, entering the “Domain of the Golden Dragon” and gaining 24 hours. The next morning, it was January 30. We marked the occasion with an elaborate brunch that took up the entire the pool deck. The entire kitchen staff must have been up all night preparing this amazing feast.
Though the calendar indicated six days at sea, we only had five physical days aboard ship. On February 1, we arrived at our first New Zealand port, Waitangi. This is a port we missed last year due to inclement weather, so we were thrilled to be here.
Waitangi is one of the 150 or so islands that make up the “Bay of Islands” at the northern tip of New Zealand. It is here that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, marking the end of wars between the British settlers and the native Māori people.
We had no excursion escort duties, so we enjoyed a day together. Our original plan was to take a ferry over to nearby Russell Island and go on a long hike. Looking at the map, we realized there were equally good hikes much closer to the tender port.
Our first trail was a bush walk to a lookout. After walking half the trail (1.4 km each way), we realized we wouldn’t have enough time to get to our second trail, so we turned back without ever seeing the lookout.
We wanted to save our energy for the second trail. Different information said this was either a 4-km or 6-km trail, requiring either 1.5 or 2 hours each way. Gail bought a quick sandwich at a deli (Russell had brought two packets of nuts), and we set out toward Haruru Waterfall.
The trail was magnificent. The weather was sunny but mild, and the trail was shaded. We walked through lush forested bush, with cicadas and tūī birds chirping all around us. The highlight was an elevated walkway over a waterlogged mangrove forest. Russell declared this one of the most beautiful sights he has ever seen anywhere in the world.
The waterfall itself was fairly small, made even smaller by a recent lack of rain. Gail was exhausted, and spent some time soaking her feet in the cool water. As we walked back, we discovered the tide had gone out in the mangrove forest. The swamp had turned to mud, and was now accompanied by the sound of hundreds of snapping shrimp. Gail made it back only through sheer force of will. (In hindsight, we probably should not have done the first hike at all.) All told, we hiked almost 11 miles today.
