Babbling Brooke’s Travel Blog

Our ninth day in New Zealand and our last full day up in the Northlands was one for the books!

Matt pre-booked a boat trip within the Bay of Islands and, as with a lot of our travels, I simply showed up 🙃. I will say I have been MUCH more active in planning this trip. Passenger princess is an old habit that is dying out. Not knowing much worked out to be a delightful surprise as I had no idea what kind of boat we were about to go cruising on. 12-year-old me was about to be STOKED. *Cue Pirates of the Caribbean theme song*

Before our voyage could begin, we had a sliver of time to check out the Saturday market at The Old Packhouse Market in Kerikeri. The Ballard Farmers Market back home is one of our favorite things about our neighborhood, and this event really stood up to the comparison! A large, open concept old wooden building had been converted into a mix of permanent stalls, a cafe, and mixed use space that was filled with different vendors. There was a mix of food vendors, folks selling plant starts, crafts, home decor, and even some vintage/secondhand clothing stalls! We immediately wished we had more time to spend looking at everything available.

Focused on food, I grabbed a pumpkin and caramelized onion quiche and Matt got a cheesy scone- both were mouth-wateringly delicious.

Unable to spare a minute longer, we drove into Paihia, parked the car and hopped on a little inter-island ferry over to the town of Russell. The ferry itself was a one-level aluminum boat that was mostly covered from the elements and had white painted metal park benches inside, adorned with seemingly hand-made pillows. The captain of the vessel was a sun-tanned, tangly-haired quintessential hippie guy- who was also barefoot. The vessel had smiley face flags and the vibes were immaculate.

Across the bay, we landed into Russell and I got the first look at the R. Tucker Thompson. Holy shitballs it was SO COOL! The ship is a ‘gaff-rigged square top sail schooner with a full sail wardrobe of 9 sails’. AKA she is a pirate ship.

We were itching to board the vessel but we were a tad early, so we decided to kill some time by exploring Russell and scoping out some potential places to eat after the voyage.

We stumbled upon a local craft fair of (mostly) older folks and it was absolutely adorable. We definitely couldn’t leave there without giving some support and purchasing a few trinkets for ourselves.

It was finally time to set sail – literally! Once on our way, the crew asked for help setting the main sail and I jumped up to volunteer. One of the kind trainees helped instruct me on what to do and, upon the captain’s verbal cue, we pulled and pulled and pulled as we hoisted the main sail up.

Underway, we were served tea and scones – and I was clearly in heaven. Our crew told stories and we learned that these sailing day trips help fund their youth program in which they host an immersive 7 day voyage to teach kids 14-18 years old all about sailing. So awesome!

If you’re wondering why I am wearing a brightly colored harness…well it’s because New Zealand is awesome and they let you do cool shit, like climb up to the top of the ship while its sailing (if you feel like it).

Matt also climbed up- and he went for it barefoot! Kudos to him because my feet are too weak for that!

By this time we had made it to our destination for the day – Motuarohia Island. The crew set anchor and took us to shore to explore the island. Matt and I hiked up to the lookout to get a full view of the small island and surrounding waters. It was so stunning!

We searched for birds and learned about the history of the island. A really cool way they balanced Māori and British history was having double-sided placards that, on one side you could read about the British’s account, and on the other, the Māori’s account of history. I thought it was a really nice way to balance the differences.

Back on board we were served a delicious lunch and right as we were finishing eating a huge rainstorm blew past us. I say “blew” because it lasted all of 10 minutes but it rained so hard you could barely see any land – it was all awash in shades of grey!

Just as quickly as it arrived, the rain continued on and left us with in glorious sunshine (with a few intermittent clouds). The crew informed us we could now swim and rope swing off of the ship!

We finished off the afternoon with Matt helping raise the main sail as we made way out of the harbor, heading back to Russell. Unfortunately I only took a video of Matt helping but rest assured he did great! After raising the sail, both of us indulged in a glass of wine (or two) ☺️

We were incredibly lucky on this trip. We found out that this boat can host 47 people when full!!! We had about 10 onboard and there was plenty of room for everyone to move about. I honestly have a hard time imagining a huge swath of people onboard. Definitely thanking my lucky stars for our small, laid back group.

Back in town, we grabbed some pizza at Hone’s Garden. I tried their special: A Manuka honey, blue cheese and pear pizza. It was really delicious. Matt got a spicy salami pizza- his favorite combo!

With fully bellies and hearts, we popped into a couple shops in Russell before getting back on the ferry to Paihia, and then onward to our Airbnb in Kerikeri.

Since it was our last night in our amazing Airbnb, I was feeling so bittersweet. I truly could have stayed there a month but knowing how many fun things we had planned ahead definitely helped. Our “slow-ish” pace of traveling was coming to an end and we geared up mentally to be on the move a lot more.

If anyone is planning a trip to Kerikeri, I cannot recommend this Airbnb enough!

And since I forgot earlier, our Airbnb in Ponsonby (Auckland), was also very delightful!

Day 10 we head south for the Coromandel Peninsula for a couple days. Follow along by subscribing to stay up to date!