Friday 20th March
Paihia
When we arrived at the pier today a fishing boat came into harbour with huge kingfish on board that attracted a lot of attention.


We caught the ferry to Russell, on the other side of the bay. The trip took about fifteen minutes and we passed close to one of the many small islands.


Russell is one of New Zealand's oldest European settlements and was declared the capital in 1840. This fig tree was planted in 1870 outside the original police station, which is still in use.

Many of the houses date from the 1890's after the original town was destroyed by a British warship following the seige of Russell by Maori forces. The house at the bottom right dates from this time. The houses here are very expensive, even by UK standards.

We spent a couple of hours strolling around and enjoying the views of the bay, the many yachts and this sailing ship.

In the late afternoon we went down to Paihia Beach and saw about 20 big yachts with bright spinnakers taking part in a race.