Bay of Islands, New Zealand

[p-helps]

We will be visiting Bay of Islands on 11th November from 8am to 5pm but haven't booked a shore excursion yet. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions on what to do there? Thanks in advance

[OzKiwiJJ]

See my post on this thread: 

 

 

[cruise kitty]

On 10/25/2018 at 9:04 PM, p-helps said:

We will be visiting Bay of Islands on 11th November from 8am to 5pm but haven't booked a shore excursion yet. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions on what to do there? Thanks in advance

 

Hi, we were there last November.  One of the best parts of most New Zealand post is that there's a free shuttle, & it's hosted by locals who give all sorts of free advice.  That said, we personally booked a boat tour, saw tons of sea life & dolphins, & then visited Russell in the afternoon (the boat tour we took dropped us off there)  We ended the day with drinks in Paihai (excuse spelling please)   Our day was wonderful, but it meant that we missed out on a full visit to the Treaty Grounds (we did walk around the outside of the grounds & visited the gift shop)  One thing to be aware of is that the weather, in a ingle day went from shorts & tee shirts, to pouring rain & gale force wind & cold, to sunny & gorgeous lay around a pool weather, so bring layers & a hat & glasses. :)  Theres a link to my photo review of our New Zealand cruise if you're interested, it has more detail about the ports & what we did.  Enjoy!

[Northern Aurora]

In 2016 we spent a full day at the Treaty Grounds, and enjoyed every minute.  Very well done.

[p-helps]

Thanks for your replies everyone, looking forward to our cruise...3 days to go