Opua to Paihia

Today we a doing a relatively short but very pretty Bay of Islands walk of around 12 kilometers from nearby Opua to Paihia. From Russell we took the car ferry across to Opua, where we joined a scenic and well maintained coastal track. The walk was a delight with really lovely views of the Bay with its passing vista of crisscrossing yachts and other seacraft as well as a variety of wading birds such as oystercatchers, seagulls and heron feeding at the water's edge. Secluded holiday homes perched on high hills overlooking the tiny beaches made us rather envious of their unsurpassed views. At one stage we left the beaches and made our way along a boardwalk through mangrove trees and, a little further on, strolled  through an avenue of tall ferns in a rain forest. As we approached Paihia we felt a sense of history on passing the remains of a former boathouse, which was used to build and repair whalers in the 1880s. I love old architecture and along the Paihia beach front I  came across St Pauls Anglican Church, a magnificent structure with an imposing spire built from local quarry stone in 1925. I had a wonderful lunch of freshly caught grilled blue cod, coleslaw and green salad at a friendly hostelry overlooking the Bay and after a stroll around this charming town it was time to make our way home, which we did by retracing our steps. Not a bad start to a walking holiday!