Paihia
Accommodation: Sat 1st Feb – Tue 4th Feb
Sat 1st Feb
It was clear and sunny for our 3 1/2 hr drive from Auckland up to Piahia in the Bay of Islands. I had changed my mind a few times about where to locate in this area and eventually settled on the Piahia Beach Resort and Spa. We had a lovely studio room on the top (4th) floor with a spectacular view out over the beach.
We went down to explore the pool area which was lovely as well, and noticed that there were only a few deck chairs but, luckily for us, they were all empty so we snagged two of them and spent the next couple of hours resting, swimming, blogging and reading. We weren’t alone for long though before the others were snapped up.
It had been a long day of travel and so we decided to dine in at our hotel restaurant, Glasshouse, which was a pleasant experience. We then had an early night as we had a full day planned for tomorrow with a day out on the water.
Sun 2nd Feb
It was a gloriously sunny day and without a breath of wind making it ideal conditions for our 4.5 hr boat trip out around the Bay of Islands. The boat made two island stops and passed by some significant rock features and was a great way to see more of the bay and some of the 145 islands that make up this region.
It was around 2.30 pm by the time we got back to our hotel and it was very hot, too hot to go on a walk exploring, so we spent the next couple of hours by the pool. Various tour guides have noted that the sun here is much more intense and we have found that to be the case; it feels much hotter than what the thermometer reading registers.
We had a funny thing happen during the afternoon as I was relaxing around the pool. For some reason, I checked my calendar and realised that I had double booked us for dinner. This was my first mistake on this journey and I hope it’s the last! One place, Terra, was fine dining and only open today and the other place was Zane Grey which was casual and open every night. So we opted to go to Terra and, my memory did start to kick in at this point as I recalled this was considered a place that very hard to get into and, for that reason, I had booked many months ago.
The other funny thing to point out at this juncture was that we had just both decided we’d been eating and drinking too much on the trip thus far and that we were planning on taking it easy tonight. Unfortunately, Terra was a degustation restaurant with paired wines for each course but, as Mark then said, there is always tomorrow.
Terra was a fantastic dining experience and we greatly enjoyed our 6 course degustation meal with matched wines. This is definitely a place I’d recommend if you’re ever in the region. There were even some interesting guests dining alongside us; a group of overly dressed, for laid back Paihia that is, important looking people as well as someone in full navy like regalia along with a security detail. You know the type, a huge guy with a suit one size too small, tough looking and wearing an earpiece wired around the back of his head. We assumed this was something to do with the upcoming Waitangi Day, given we are just near the Waitangi Treaty grounds, but, we’ll never really know.
Mon 3rd Feb
It was an overcast start to our last full day in Paihia but, to tell you the truth, I was glad of the reprieve. The last couple of days had been very hot and, when the sun is out in force in the middle of the day, there’s really nothing to do but stay undercover. The overcast conditions better suited our plans which were to catch a ferry across to Russell and explore that area for a while.
Our day started with a walk out towards Waitangi and, even though Waitangi Day is three days away, there was a lot of activity up in the area with plenty of preparation in progress. Mark even spied our security detail guy from last nights dinner.
We caught the 11 o’clock ferry across to Russell, that takes about 12 minutes, and took a walk up to the Flagstaff lookout and then a bit of a stroll around the village but there wasn’t that much to see or do so we were back on the 1 pm ferry heading home. There may be more to see and do in the area if you take your car over on the car ferry, for example, I think there are a couple of vineyards you can visit, but I’m not sure that we would have wanted to have done that either. It was a pretty village though, with a couple of nice spots for lunch, so that is something to consider. Neither of us felt like another restaurant meal however so we simply headed back after checking out the area.
The sun was well and truly out by the time we got back and so Mark took the opportunity to head out for a bike ride and I spent the afternoon lazing down by the pool and reading. I’m so grateful that I changed my mind about our accommodation for this area and ended up securing a hotel with a nice pool.
Mark got back by about 4. 30 pm and joined me down by the pool for a while before we headed into the village for an early dinner at Zane Grey. The meal was just ok but the view was lovely and we finished off our last night with a beach walk. If we had our time over again we’d rather have gone to Charlotte’s Kitchen but we realised this too late. It was also located on the pier but had many more people there and the menu read much better as well. It was our last night in Paihia and I consider that we’d spent just the right amount of time in this place. Tomorrow we head back down south to the Coromandel Peninsula.
We loved our time relaxing in Paihia and this was made much more enjoyable due to our lovely accommodation. I would recommend the Paihia Beach Resort and Spa to anyone visiting the area as it is really the nicest, from a rather short list, of well placed accommodation. The beach area in front of our hotel is sand whereas that in front of the area, nearer the shops and wharf, is more pebble / dirt. We also loved having a room with such a great sea view and, given how hot it turned out to be, loved having access to such a nice big pool and pool side lounge area that itself offered lovely views out across the water. I had changed my mind twice when booking here and I’m glad I landed on this third option. I would choose our room style (Spa Studio) as it is located on the top (4th) floor with a lift and so has one of the best views. It also has a kitchenette giving you the option of having some meals, eg breakfast, in your room. The dining table out on our balcony offered views to rival any of the restaurants in the area!
