Bay of Island

Heading north on the east side of the North Island, we reached the Bay of Islands. The tour, as always, took us through beautiful landscapes on winding roads. There was also the first gravel section for a few kilometers. To shorten the distance by a few kilometers, we took a ferry from Russel to Pahia. The place is quite cute, but also very touristy. We met Germans one after another, mostly in campervans, who approached us about our motorcycles with Berlin license plates.

In Pahia, we set up our tent for the first time. We stayed 2 days to visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds Museum, which was within walking distance. The Treaty House there is where the joint treaty between the Maori and the British was signed in 1840, making New Zealand a British colony. The museum visit easily took half a day, there was a one-hour tour and a half-hour Maori show included. Non-New Zealanders pay 40 (!) dollars (about 27 €) for the whole thing, Kiwis pay half. The museum is well done and actually a "must," but the admission price is quite steep!