Today is our last port before heading home to Australia. Our two previous visits to the Bay of Islands have been wet and cold affairs. But today the sun is shining and it looks like a beautiful day.
The Bay of Islands deserves a proper introduction. It’s a drowned river valley, a landscape of coves, headlands, and inlets that the sea flooded long ago, leaving 144 islands scattered across the bay, the largest being Urupukapuka. Its Māori name is Te Pēwhairangi, and the bay opens to the Pacific through a wide passage guarded by Cape Brett, home of the famous Hole in the Rock. Captain Cook sailed in on his first voyage and named it on 27 November 1769, after landing on Motuarohia Island.
Few places in New Zealand carry more history. It’s the heartland of Ngāpuhi, the country’s largest iwi. On Christmas Day 1814 the missionary Samuel Marsden preached the first sermon in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay, and the first mission was established there. Henry Williams followed with his mission at Paihia in the early 1820s. Across the water, Kororāreka, now the town of Russell, grew into a rowdy whaling port that earned the nickname “Hellhole of the Pacific.” Its Māori name translates as “sweet penguin,” which is a surprisingly gentle name for such a rough place. Then, on 6 February 1840, at Waitangi, just a short walk from Paihia, around 40 Māori chiefs and a representative of the British Crown signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Over 500 rangatira from across the country would eventually add their signatures. Its meaning is still debated today, and Waitangi is considered the birthplace of modern New Zealand. Only five years later the Flagstaff War broke out, when the Ngāpuhi chief Hōne Heke repeatedly cut down the British flagpole above Kororāreka and sacked the town. It’s a place where New Zealand’s story began, and where it wasn’t always smooth.
We leave the ship on a tender at around 10:30. It’s a short tender ride of around ten minutes. We then decide to walk into the township of Paihia. It’s about a 30 minute walk around the bay, with sweeping views of the islands on our left and the dramatic mountains on our right. Every 100 metres or so on our left are signs showing a photo and details of a seabird seen in the area. Gannets, gulls, and plenty more. Here are a few more you might spot around the Bay of Islands:
Variable oystercatcher (tōrea pango): a stocky black shorebird with a long, bright orange bill, found only in New Zealand. Pied shag (kāruhiruhi): a large black and white shag, often seen roosting on rocky headlands or trees. White-fronted tern (tara): the most common tern on the coast, with a black cap and a thin white strip above the bill. Little penguin (kororā): the world’s smallest penguin, a regular in the bay.
It’s a delightful walk, and we see Paihia as we round the final corner. When we arrive we wander through the market. Local sellers must love sunny days like today when a cruise ship is in town. There are about 50 tents with all manner of things. Mardi finds some yarn, a merino and possum blend. There are handmade tin animal shapes, clothing, jewellery, hats, shirts, candles, and wooden handicrafts.
After the market we look for somewhere to eat. Katarina, our butler, suggested a place called Tipsy Oyster. We search on the map and it’s 200 metres away, so we head towards it. It’s a busy part of town, with a few souvenir shops and a helipad. Every ten minutes the sightseeing chopper lands and loads another group of passengers. It’s New Zealand, so the helipad is very close to bystanders watching it take off and land, literally 10 metres. It’s a tiny triangle of land designated as the helipad. We pass it as the rotor blades send a wash of wind around us.
Before we know it we’re at Tipsy Oyster, on Marsden Road, named after the same Samuel Marsden. It’s a funky place, with great music, the most colourful menu I’ve ever seen, and weirdly named dishes. The menu is a comic book, with French bulldog chefs in capes leaping across the pages and every section headed in bold, Pop Art lettering. The oysters carry a note saying they are “to be enjoyed in romantic situations.” The burger section calls itself “Tipsy’s Under Ground Burger Scene,” and the dishes read like a movie festival. There’s a burger called “911, What’s Your Emergency,” a cauliflower tapas dish called “Don’t Caul Me a Taxi,” a pork belly dish called “Next Stop,” a Kashmiri goat curry called “Blessing & a Curse,” a pepperoni garlic bread called “Rolls Royce,” and a calamari dish called “Squid Game.” Dessert includes a “Tiramisu Gone Too T.I.P.S.Y” soaked in coffee liqueur, Baileys mascarpone, and Whittaker’s chocolate. There’s even an oyster shot platter with Bloody Mary, green apple and jalapeño, and champagne options.
We have a cocktail each. Mardi has a Dance Not Romance (watermelon and watermelon liqueur, pineapple snd tequila) and I have a Bride Not Wife (Queenstown crème liqueur, Hokey Pokey milk, peanut butter whiskey and marshmallows). For lunch we have:
- The Good Stuff (tapas): smoked and barbecued creamy malai boti chicken, finished with Tipsy’s own garam masala, a burnt butter whiskey velouté, and fried onions.
- OG Brother Khan (burger): Tipsy’s iconic dish since 2019. It’s tandoori butter chicken with roasted cashews and a fenugreek sauce, stuffed into a ghee-fried flaky Singapore roti paratha with fennel slaw.
- Six oysters: one “Baked as F***” (double baked with gin-infused smoked bacon, cheese, and pepperoni tomato pesto), two “Lottery” (lemongrass, green apple sherry sauce, and wakame seaweed), and three “Blank Cheque” (fresh shucked oyster with citrus).
It’s absolutely delicious. The burger especially is just awesome, crispy roti and butter chicken. Yum, yum.
After lunch we explore the souvenir shops before catching the shuttle bus back to the tender dock. The queue for the tender is long, maybe 200 people. As we approach, a Retreat concierge grabs us and directs us to the front of the queue. There is more to the Retreat than the lounge! We board the waiting tender and are back on the ship a few minutes later.
Some of you may know Powderfinger. The Brisbane band formed in 1989 and became one of Australia’s biggest rock acts, with five ARIA number one albums and 18 ARIA Awards. The songs are part of the soundtrack of a generation, “My Happiness,” “These Days,” “Waiting for the Sun,” “Like a Dog,” and “(Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind.” In 2010 they called it quits with a farewell tour that ended at Brisbane’s Riverstage. For years the question was whether they would ever play together again. On Friday 9 October, Bernard Fanning, Darren Middleton, Ian Haug, Jon Coghill, and John “JC” Collins posted a video announcing a reunion tour. It’s the original lineup, with 18 shows across Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne in September and October 2027, their first full tour since that farewell.
Well, tickets go on sale today, so once back in our room I log in to the Ticketmaster waiting room in an attempt to get tickets. Waiting. Waiting. When the ticket window opens I’m 2,789th in the queue. No chance. I patiently wait my turn, and when it’s my turn there are no tickets to buy. I try other dates. No luck. Then a new Sydney show is added and the window opens in two minutes, so I log on again. Voila. Two tickets pop up, seated, great view. We will get to see them again. We saw them in Canberra in 2003 about the time they really took off. We bought tickets, but also won tickets in the mosh pit. Great shows back then. Hopefully the show next year is as good.
Whilst I’m gnashing my teeth through the ticket buying exercise, Mardi goes to the Retreat for an iced coffee and chocolate. We chill out in our room for a while. The captain announces we’re in for some rough weather as we enter the Tasman Sea and turn west towards Sydney. He says he’ll do his best to avoid the high seas, but warns us it’ll get rocky, with a swell of around five metres.
We do a little packing. The epic Trans-Pacific voyage is drawing to an end, with two sea days ahead.
We head up to the lounge before dinner and bump into Rosina and Aldo. They’re sitting with their neighbours, so we join them for a while before heading off to dinner. We sit together at dinner and have another great night, with lots of laughs and storytelling. Are we the last to leave again? You bet we are. For dinner we enjoyed egg drop soup, green chicken salad and lamb tacos.
A quick visit to the casino, with a positive result playing the multi-reel machine. The buffalos are generous again. No such luck with roulette. Overall the casino is a little disappointing. Most of the tables are empty, so if you do play it’s only you at the table, which isn’t a lot of fun. So we’ve mostly played the machines. We head to bed. We get an hour back tonight, which is good as we had an early start today.
