New Zealand: The Bay of Islands

After the urban delights of Auckland, we drove north up State Highway 1 to the Bay of Islands. It's pretty much as it says on the tin, a bay with lots of little islands in it - though we didn't actually visit any of the islands. Instead we first visited the small quiet coastal town of Paihia (I've still no idea how to pronounce that) and had a wander around. It's a lovely looking place, though I suspect it'd be heaving with tourists in the middle of summer. We then headed a little further north to the Waitangi treaty grounds. This is the place where the treaty unifying New Zealand as a country for both Maori and Europeans was first signed. The area itself it fairly unremarkable, with a simple building known as the Treaty House, another meeting place building, a flag pole to mark the spot where the treaty was signed and a (modern reproduction) Maori war canoe. What is remarkable is that New Zealand seems to have benefited enormously from the Waitangi treaty, it certainly appears a more unified country than Australia. We then headed up to see Mount Bledisloe and Haruru Falls. Spectacular views at both (I'll get round to putting the pics up when I get an evening/weekend day free - difficult in December). For the evening, we decided to use the camper van to the full and so parked up at the waterfront in Paihia. Overnight, the trouble started... My belly had decided it didn't like something in the local water or food, so was insisting on emptying itself at every possible opportunity. Thankfully, the camper van was provided with a toilet with a large enough waste tank and plenty of deodorising chemicals to put down it. The next day I still wasn't feeling good. Thankfully, the water heater in the van was able to provide enough water for two quick hot showers. We searched out a pharmacy and I bought some anti-diarrhoea tablets, which in retrospect was a mistake. Let me warn you about these things. While they do the job of stopping you needing to go to the toilet every ten minutes, it does mean that you puke several times during the day and have horrible stomach cramps, especially when being driven around on bumpy gravel roads. Two days of that was not fun, though we continued our holiday unabated. Next, the Road to Rotorua!