Matthew’s Website

I had a fairly lazy stay in the bay of islands actually and I didn’t do that much except wince at the food prices as every meal seemed to cost £9 which makes it more expensive than New York - of course now the exchange rate is approximately $1=£1 that is no longer the case but it was certainly true when I was there before the exchange rates went insane.

On the middle day I headed out into the bay on a sail catamaran which was great fun - the boat got really wet so it had to be dodged as we sailed pretty damn fast as the wind was strong. I also did some sea kayaking which was great fun around an island where we stopped for lunch and I also did some shoeless walking as the boat captain refused to bring my shoes over in his dingy and I didn’t want to get them wet in my kayak.

Then on the Thursday I caught the bus down towards Rotaruha - as usual the bus didn’t show a Hollywood movie - not even the Zohan and it also regularly stopped for rest stops rather than providing food and toilets on board. This is a total downgrade from South American buses.