2. Stop: BAY OF ISLANDS

Our first bus trip took us to Paihia, a small town in the Northland region of New Zealand - the first church was built here! We traveled about 5 hours by Kiwi bus to our hostel in the fishing village and had beautiful weather right away. The Bay of Islands is formed by a 16km long sea arm and is a very popular tourist destination. It looks super Caribbean and you can see dolphins, go sailing, and find many small 'postcard-worthy beaches'.

On the way, we naturally made several stops to get out of the bus. One of the advantages of traveling by Kiwi bus is that the drivers know the beautiful places to stop, so we were able to admire the Tikipunga waterfalls during our lunch break!

We stayed at 'Base', a well-known and large company among hostels in Australia and New Zealand. Kiwi Experience has entered into a partnership with Base, so there is always a place reserved for all passengers. We often take advantage of this option, but it's worth taking a look for yourself, as you can also find cheaper and more family-friendly hostels with the same offers if you do some search. Kiwi Experience gives us the choice of whether to use one of their offers or organize ourselves!

The beach was only a few meters away from our hostel, so we could start a relaxed afternoon, as we had the afternoon after our arrival and the morning of the departure day free.

Afterwards, we went on a little evening forest hike to one of the viewpoints overlooking the Bay of Islands, but unfortunately, the beautiful sunset was on the other side behind many trees! Nevertheless, it was nice for both of us to move a little after the long bus ride, despite the tiredness.

On the second day, we could start again after the typical backpacker breakfast (porridge, toast, instant coffee) half-rested and relaxed! In the evening, we had already planned to take the small ferry to Russell the next morning, another small town located about 3km west of the bay on the other side. The port here was New Zealand's first commercial center in the 19th century and is therefore strongly influenced by European culture. The ferry tour cost $14 (return) and was worth it alone because of the beautiful and sunny view of the water!

From the port in Russell, we walked about 15 minutes to 'Long Beach', the most beautiful beach section here in the Bay of Islands. Since we were there in the morning, there weren't many other people there yet and we could enjoy the calmness in the sun! Until we unfortunately had to go back again, as the bus left for Auckland at around 2 pm, where we spent another last night, as the journey to the next stop would have been too long otherwise.