Russell and the Bay of Islands

February 12, 2020

Russell town

Time is shrinking as we enter our last two weeks of travel—we’re headed north. Our goal is to explore the northland; revisiting the Bay of Islands, Manganoui, and the northland beaches. Our brief stay in Auckland for R and R with the Condon's was a wonderful respite for a couple of road weary travelers. We did take in the Auckland Museum which has a wonderful collection of Maori and indigenous artifacts from many of the South Pacific cultures. Amazing to see how rich and complex their historical cultures had been. Maori’s have a strong interest in rediscovering their language, history, art, and pride.

After a few hour drive and a ten minute car ferry from Opua, we arrived in Russell We found a wonderful Air B and B staying with Al and Cindy at their guest house overlooking the bay. Quite a varied life they have had including living in Bend, Hawaii, and now spend 1/2 the year in New Zealand in a home perched above the bay, beautifully landscaped where they enjoy boating, paddle boarding, and exploring their marine environment. We we’re treated to great conversation and a boat tour with them for a day to some of the islands. Most of the islands are all, or partial public reserves. The beaches "belong to the Queen", meaning all beach is open to the public. Our trip included scenic walks, a picnic, snorkeling and a chance to paddle board. Russell is historic as an early whaling port which was describe as “the hell hole of the Pacific” by the early British governor and clergy. Even in the early 1800’s American’s earned a bad reputation for their behavior as foreign visitors! Russell also was written about in Angler’s Eldorado by Zane Grey, the western author who had a passion for big game fishing. Russell is charming, historical, and has a number of bays, anchorages, and a particularly fun swimming and boogey board beach. We spent a couple of fun days at Long Beach swimming and playing in the waves. The town has several good restaurants, a museum and an Anglican church that still bears scars from the land wars between the Maori’s and Europeans prior to the Treaty of Waitangi.