Bay of Islands, New Zealand

The photo above is of the hole in the rock, the iconic image of Bay of Islands region. We didn’t see it until we were departing the area at sunset.

Tomorrow marks the halfway mark in our World Cruise and New Zealand marks the most livable place we have visited. You could move to New Zealand and be pretty much at home very quickly. It is green, clean and beautiful. The people are very friendly and enjoyable. It is a youthful culture much like the Pacific Northwest and very oriented to outdoor living. There are ferries everywhere and coffee shops abound. Also a great place for seafood, lamb, and dairy products.

Check out the walk from the house to the lighthouse.

Every kind of boat is to be found in the bay.

This is the oldest European style stone building in the country from 1840.

There was a craft fair in the little town near where we docked. Really high quality crafts. Here is a local tourist. Mostly we just drove through the countryside to see the landscape, farms and retirement communities.