We left Auckland at 7am to catch our bus to the Bay of Islands! We were excited as it was our first time exploring more of New Zealand and we had heard so many good things about it. When we arrived we had our first day to chill out but I think all the nights out in Auckland had caught up with us so we used the afternoon to catch up on some sleep! In the evening we had the BBQ at the hostel and had some drinks before heading to bed for our early start the next day.
Our second day we took a bus up to Cape Reinga; something I would definitely recommend doing as it was definitely worth it. We did a walk to the lighthouse and saw two seas meeting. We were so lucky with the weather as it was boiling hot! There were lovely views and it was incredible seeing the most northern part of NZ! Once we had done the walk we got back on the coach and got taken to the biggest sand dunes I have ever seen. We climbed up them which was so tiring and when we got to the top we got to body board down. You could end up going so fast you would fly through the tiny river and onto some grass just after it! It was such a good experience and our tour guide definitely enjoyed it because he took us twice the height of all the other groups around us. Afterwards we took a long drive on 90 mile beach (exactly the same as 75 mile beach on Fraser Island) and stopped at a fish and chip shop on the way home that did the most incredible battered fish; Brad went back for more.
Our third and final full day we spent swimming with wild dolphins!! Neither of us wanted to go to the likes of sea world and swim with them in a swimming pool where they're trained as I hate anything like that. We opted for the most natural way to do so and we are so glad we did! Because they are completely wild we took the chance of not actually seeing or being able to swim with them; but 15 minutes into the tour we found some and they were incredible to see up close. The skippers had to assess the pod as you can't swim if there's babies or if they're feeding or sleeping and luckily they weren't! There were tons of them and it was definitely one of the best days we have had travelling; or ever! We all got undressed in about 2 seconds and were straight to the back of the boat and shoved some flippers and a snorkel on ready to go. We were all in the water so fast, and it was absolutely freezing but you sort of got an adrenaline burst and raced over to the dolphins. Somehow I was one of the first over to them and it was one of the best feelings when they were swimming round you and they were so playful. For some reason however they didn't stick around long and they disappeared after about 10 minutes. The skippers were quite confused and we got on the boat and just accepted they were wild and you can't ever control them. We continued to search for some; and found them again but they didn't hang around long and each boat has a certain amount of time they can swim with the dolphins to keep them happy. We left them alone and headed to a little spot to snorkel, but I just sunbathed on the tiny boat deck. When Brad came back from snorkelling he spoke to the skipper as he was so desperate to see killer whales, but we were told they are only found every 6-8 weeks and even he hadn't seen any this year so it was highly unlikely.
But, our luck hadn't run out just yet! After a while the skipper got a call and the dolphins behaviour
all made sense- they had spotted wild orcas (killer whales) further out!
We drove further out to sea and the waves were quite rough considering we were only on a tiny boat with about 12 people on it. However it was all worth it to see a family of killer whales just swimming about. They were absolutely huge and at some points right next to the boat and you could see them swim underneath! It's something that just topped the day off and made it so special and you really appreciate where you are and what you're doing at times like that! We took so many pictures but everyone on the boat was just so excited and enjoying the moment it was hard to get good pictures.
We headed home after and there was such a good atmosphere on the boat. In the evening we just chilled and did boring things like cooked and our washing- travelling has matured me seeing as now I can actually work a washing machine. We packed our bags and got ready to leave for Auckland the next morning.
Overall the Bay of Islands was definitely one of the best experiences and there is so much to do up there. We wished we had longer and in the summer I can see it being an incredible place to go as there's so many islands. We would definitely go back because there was some activities we just didn't have the time to do. The dolphin encounter is something I would 100% go back and do because they're wild and every trip will be different, so you may never know what you see next time.
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