January 7, 2013

The morning was ominously overcast, but as the day progressed, the cloud cover parted, and we had another sunny day by late morning. It was quite breezy, though. Nevertheless, the temperatures were in the mid-70s, which was perfect for the day's activity. Incidentally, these weather reports are for one of my friends who always is asking about the weather!

Yes, singular: activity. There's not much to report today. We took a four and a half hour cruise in the Bay of Islands to see the "world famous" Hole in the Rock at the edge of the bay. Somehow I had missed out on the famous rock's and famous hole's notoriety because I had never heard of it until I arrived in Paihia. But as I have emphasized many times, despite the attitude some people perceive, I do not know everything!

I managed to nab a prime spot right at the prow of the ship. My camera was going snap, snap, snap as we passed the many islands in the Bay of Islands. Oh, I have to correct a misstatement I made in an earlier entry; the Bay of Islands does not consist of over 150 islands. There are only 144. It counts as an island only if it rises above the water and there's vegetation growing on it. Many of the rocks in the Bay fail to meet the second criterion.

Shortly after launch, a pod of bottlenose dolphins joined us and played with us for a while. They leaped out of the water, and did flips right at the front of the ship. I took many pictures, but I haven't reviewed them yet so I don't know how they turned out. I should have been using the movie function on my camera (it can take a movie up to 12 minutes in length), because the dolphins moved so quickly, it was difficult to be looking in just the right space at just the right time. Finally, I put my camera aside and just experienced the joy of the moment, watching those beautiful creatures frolicking in the water. Often the camera can get in the way of experiencing the wonder of what is happening. It was especially precious to watch a baby dolphin dancing in the water in tandem with its mother.

We moved on -- carefully so as not to injure any of the dolphins -- and continued on to the Hole in the Rock. It was an interesting formation created by the winds and the waves right at the edge of the Pacific. The lighting made the rock look dark and mundane; I had seen other photographs of the Hole in the Rock that showed a more photogenic side of the rock. Those photos must have been taken very early in the morning.

We stopped for lunch on one of the islands where Zane Grey, the famous writer of westerns, had lived, and then headed back to Paihia. Once back on the mainland, we boarded our bus and headed back to Auckland. So, sorry, there's no history or cultural anthropology today (the Hole in the Rock does have some significance to the Maori, but I couldn't quite hear the guide talk about it because I was out on the deck of the ship taking photographs). I'm working on arranging a half-day tour of Lord of the Rings shooting locations in Wellington when we arrive there on Saturday. There are some logistical problems because both companies that offer tours start their tours at 1:30, the very time we're due to arrive in Wellington. I've developed a Plan B in case that falls through, but I'll wait until that day's journal entry to write about it.

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Last revised: August 5, 2015.