Saturday 14th March 2009

A beautiful sunrise today, we were up and out early ready to catch our boat, the Tiger V, at 8.45 for a four hour trip on our Hole in the Rock cruise. When we left the jetty the foredeck was opened and we went up to the pointed end. There were twelve islands for us to visit on our journey to the Hole.

Our first stop however, was a place called Russell which although it is not an island, it is more accessible by ferry from the Bay. Back in the Maori settlement days this was declared the capital. It is full of colonial buildings and tea shops with gardens down to the sea.

Our captain was very informative and we were given loads of information of the days of Captain Cook and the early settlers. The original inhabitants of the islands were the Mori Mori people who were driven out by Polynesian invaders who were later known as Mai Ori. Now changed to Maori which means clean and new.

We then went off to Cape Brett and the Hole in the Rock. Although the sea was wonderfully calm the Captain said he would get us as close as he could as it depended on the tides as to whether we could go through.

He stopped engines and we edged closer and closer.

He then surprised us all by opening the throttle and going through it. He later said there was only a 2 metre clearance on each side.

We then went on to Urupukapuka Island where we stopped for a quick coffee and cake then took another strange looking vessel to view the marine life at a local conservation feeding station.

We saw Snappers some of which were huge, some little white things with yellow tails, some with stripes and plenty of others with fins gills and tails!! We were so anxious to take some photos that we missed a bit of the commentary. Then it was back on the Tiger V back to the shore.

After a couple of beers and a bowl of fries, it was down to the beach to sleep it off – this was the first time in all our holiday we were able to relax and catch some rays.

Tomorrow we are off to Auckland for our last day before we travel home.