The place we stayed in Warkworth was a lovely little cottage with something very unusual in New Zealand. Late checkout. It was a lovely location, with a full breakfast delivered directly to the cottage, so we ate a leisurely breakfast, and relaxed in the calm country setting as long as possible. And then, we were on the road again, heading north.

We arrived in Paihia mid afternoon, and settled into the room. Then it was time for a walk to check out the town. The beach isn’t as nice as some of the others we’ve seen, but they did have a paved path along the sea, which was very pleasant.

Just down from our hotel there is a private “batch”, basically what we would call a cottage. It is apparently used for family gatherings, and has a sign in front of the property that offers words to live by.

Because we had such a hearty breakfast we skipped lunch, and that meant we were ready for an early dinner. We managed to get a table on a patio over the water, in the early evening sun. I’m a huge fan of IPAs of all types, but they have become so popular, that it seems that is the only beer you can get. I was surprised to find myself craving something different, and was very pleased when I spotted this light Vienna lager. Very enjoyable. Jan enjoyed her rose as well.

Paihia is on the Bay of Islands. Apparently there are over a thousand small islands in the bay, so when Captain Cooke was charting the area, he called it the Bay of Islands. How imaginative of him! The islands, and the sheltered bay, seem to attract a lot of boats, far more than we have seen anchored near other beaches.

There are also ferries across the bay and to some of the islands. We plan to start checking that out tomorrow.