Growing Up Between a Rock & a Hard Place

Haruru Falls are just a short drive outside the town of ‘Paihia’. We’d passed them by on our trip north yesterday, and returned today when time was a little more in our favour. The rocks atop the falls were a perfect place to enjoy some pensive plentiful minutes as we watched the world flow past and cascade beneath us. This set the pace for the day, and made it an easy transition to beach slumber for the next few hours. In truth though, it was always on our mind what the evening had in store. And when you have something planned, the hours before always seem to lose some of their importance.

Since my travelling began, I have often ignored the words of guidebooks in favour of a chance suggestion by another traveller. On the Friday before this trip, I’d interviewed a candidate at work that suggested if I was ever in the 'Bay of Islands', I should go on the ‘Rock the Boat’ overnight trip. As it happens, we’d already booked voyage on another, but signs like these cannot be ignored.

Our hostel host was less than supportive of our trip, but booked us the tickets anyway. We thought this a little strange, but ignored him in favour of following fate's suggestion. We later discovered that his feelings were matched by many other hostel, hotel, and B&B owners across town.

We arrived at the dock with plenty of time before departure. It turned out, the boat had allowed even more time. We also noticed around 20 other people waiting for the same trip, so our luck in the Whitsunday islands of having a 25 bed boat to 7 people would not be repeated here. This was not a good start. From this point on though, it got better and better.

It looked like a farmyard barn from the outside - the victim of some biblical flood that somehow was still afloat. On the inside was a different story. Almost the entire length of the first level was a beautiful wooden bar. Off to one end was a wood burning stove for cold evenings, and to the other was a bar pool table. Filling in the rest of the space, were sofas, tables and chairs, and a wet area at the back of the boat for fishing and diving from. The floor above was made up of various sized rooms for sleeping in.

There was something to do on this trip from the moment we set off, to when we returned the next day: air rifle shooting off the back of the boat leaving the harbour (3 shots each, an empty bottle dragged on string 15 metres behind the boat, and a free drink to the most hits by men and women- Lucie took the prize for the women, and I realised there is much I still don’t know about her past); fishing for snapper before dinner; night kayaking in water rich in phosphorescent algae; a morning cruise around an island, snorkelling for mussels and hand-feeding them to the fish, exploring an island, and sampling the delicacies of the sea - on the return trip, we feasted on both raw and fresh cooked mussels, and raw sea urchin roe straight out of the sea.

The trip was full to the brim with experiences that everyone was free to join in with or sit out from. There was no pressure to participate but encouragement to those that were interested. The boat was in great condition, very clean, and tastefully adorned. The crew were helpful, friendly, and relaxed. One of them turned out to be from a village near my parent’s house, and had gone to the same school as many of my friends.

On the boat we discovered the reason behind our hostel operator’s lack of enthusiasm for this original enterprise. It seems the majority of the accommodation owners had been against this trip from its conception for the simple reason that it would draw takings away from their own pockets. It’s a shame that in a country (viewed as being) so tranquil, laid back, and friendly, people are so unsupportive of each other’s progression. We've started to see this mentality in other areas of life here as well. Whether it is in shops, in business or on the roads, everyone is in a rush to get ahead and not caring who is cut off in the process. People often admire New Zealand for it being so backward. Well, it is trying to catch up quickly, and it's immaturity is showing through the cracks.

It was through word of mouth that we came across this trip, so it seems appropriate that I should pass the message on - If anyone ends up having a few days in the Bay of Islands, I would definitely recommend you put a night aside to “Rock the Boat”.