5 hours north to the old town of Russel, nestled in the Bay of Islands. This gave Ross and Rob a chance to hone their left-hand driving skills a bit more.

We arrived at the Te Pa Helios villa, and checked into the Pua House, right on the beach. The place was very nice, with huge windows looking out to the open sea and islands.

We took a full day tour along 90 Mile Beach to Cape Reinga, the very tip of the North Island and the meeting place of the Tasman Sea and Pacific.

As we stood on the cliff, we could see the ocean currents fighting each other, creating a line of white caps that stretched into the horizon. (next page)

Next, we would descend below the waves to explore the wreck of the Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior...

We explored the quiet, but historically-significant town of Russel. It was the original capital of New Zealand, and one of the very first European settlements. More info can be found here.

We collected a few of the thousands of shells along the beach in front of our house. At night we practiced taking low-light and star field shots with a cable release. The stars were the brightest any of us had ever seen.