March 28: Paihia and surrounds

Previously: March 27

Today, our plan was to spend the day hiking on Urupukapuka Island, which we remember as being either the biggest or second-biggest island in the bay. We arrived in plenty of time to buy tickets, but started our day with a near-miss, since the ferry office’s credit card machine had stopped working and nobody could figure out what was wrong. Without the machine, there'd be no way to buy tickets other than cash. Fortunately, Shoshanna had enough cash to cover the ticket cost, so we made it onto the ferry with about 5 minutes to spare. A pleasant 40-minute ferry ride took us to Otehei Bay, the landing point for all visitors to the island. And a civilized place too, as they have a full-service restaurant, so one doesn’t have to do without food or drink if one forgot to pack supplies.

We started our walk along the Paradise Bay trail, which rises steeply through open grassland to the highest point on the island, a viewing point that gives you views of most of the island (some parts are concealed by forest or rock outcrops) and the bay, then descends steeply through dense forest to a pleasant beach. There were signs the forest had burned recently, as the tree trunks were clearly charred, but with no conservation officers on duty, there was no way to tell whether this had been a prescribed burn to control the understory vegetation, or an escaped campfire.

As most of the footing had been cut through the native rock, the trail was slippery and it required care when placing our feet. In rain, it would be very difficult, and maybe impossible, to descend safely. When we reached the sand beach at the bottom, the trail opened onto a pleasant bay with a single anchored ship and nice views of the nearest islands. From the beach, you climb more slowly all the way back again to the starting point at the highest point on the island via a different trail, which is mostly gentler and thus easier, but still a decent challenge by the time we made it to the top. We’re finally getting our hiking legs back after the ill-effects of 25 hours in a plane, so we were able to do all the climbing without much fuss, though it was still a good workout.

Along the trail, we met an elderly couple (I’d estimate 10 to 15 years older than us) who we’d exchanged greetings with in passing. While we were sitting, recovering our breath at the viewpoint and admiring what I'd consider the finest views on the island, at least of the parts that we eventually visited, we met them again and this time they stopped to talk. Some time back, the husband had lost his job, but received a good severance package. With it, they built their own cat-boat (a double-hulled seagoing vessel) and took up the nomadic life, sailing the Pacific together (e.g., to spend several months in Vanuatu). They repeatedly and strongly encouraged us to do what they’d done, namely live life now, while we still could. Well, I’m working on it, but so long as the two kids still require my financial support and nobody's offering me an early pension, I don’t have the luxury of just outright retiring. But we will certainly do more of this extended vacation thing in coming years.

We returned to the restaurant at the ferry dock for lunch, which was really good pub-style fish and chips with lime aioli to complement the usual tartar sauce, and some alcohol to restore our health. Shoshanna had a pear cider, and I had BRB’s New Zealand Pale Ale (which I'd consider more on the dark than pale side of the ale spectrum). Both were delicious and restorative. We ate and drank at a picnic table looking out on the bay, where we could also watch the seabirds feeding and bathing; mostly gulls, but a pair of oyster catchers, some terns, some sandpiper-like birds, and one bird that looked very much like the endangered teal, a brownish duck of which fewer than 3000 birds remain in the wild.

Speaking of birds, I've forgotten to mention the tui, a brownish-black bird that's largely boring to look at except for what look like two pure white earmuffs dangling at around tonsil level. Ordinary though it appears, it's got a lovely voice, with quite remarkable range, from an almost bark to a bell-like chime. You hear them everywhere, and they're becoming my favorite of the local birds.

To finish our day, we took the Cable Bay/Sunset Bay trail. These took us to the opposite corner of the island, around the second-highest point on the island, then over the top of the hill to reach that point. And flocks of sheep everywhere, though like other sheep in the world, they retain a certain skepticism about tourists and aren't interested in getting too close. On the downslope from that high point, we had views of Urupukapuka Bay, where we sat and watched the waves go by, while a flock of 8+ cormorants (locally called "shags") were fishing. Fascinating to watch: the sea surface would suddenly boil with fish fleeing something we couldn’t see beneath the waves, upon which signal the cormorants all decamped in pursuit.

Because there are few and limited ferries, we wanted to be sure not to miss the 4:30 one, second-last of the day, so we'd be home in time for early dinner and early to bed. The next one wouldn’t arrive until 6:30, which would get us home well after 7, too sweaty from out walk to dine at a restaurant. So we got back to the dock early and sat by the water and watched the day go by until the ferry arrived. While we waited, we noticed a small crowd at the end of the dock, where another ferry had recently delivered a small tour group. One of the crew was dropping bits of what looked like muffin over the side of the boat, and when we went to investigate, lo and behold, a school of a few score red snapper had arrived at the dock, drawn by the arrival of the ferry. Most were about 1.5 feet long, but a few were significantly bigger. And they were very alert for crumbs; the bigger ones would push the smaller ones aside and flip onto their sides, so they could look up at us with huge black eyes. The crewman told us that the fish had learned to associate the ferry’s arrival with feeding, and came every time the ferry landed to be fed. They were gorgeous and clearly very healthy, and had a row of blue dots along their side, which the crewman told us only turned blue when they were excited.

We had an uneventful but pleasant ferry ride home, the sun lowering in the west. We had time for a quick shower, and then headed out again for dinner. Dinner was, so far as we could tell, at Good George’s Pizza Shack. (The actual name wasn’t clear, as the outside sign said Good George and the inside menu board said Pizza Shack.) We had a delicious Cheeky Chook pizza, which was chicken with BBQ sauce, and a vegetarian pizza which was less successful (not enough tomato sauce for my taste), but at least had a ton of veggies—including, oddly, what appeared to be sweet potato or squash chunks. It was advertised as having roasted veggies, but oddly, the only roasted veggie seemed to be the squash and the mushrooms were raw. Shoshanna had a glass of white wine earlier, before we left for dinner, so she didn’t have any alcohol with dinner. In my continuing effort to taste all the New Zealand beers I could find, I had the house beer, “Pizza Shack Ale”. It’s made by a local brewer that does custom work for restaurants that want their own brand of beer; unfortunately, none of the staff remembered the brewery’s name. In any event, it was a perfect ale for pizza: tasty and clear, with decent body and no bitterness.

Next installment: March 29