Waitangi (Bay of Islands), New Zealand

Hello Everyone!

We had a gorgeous day in Waitangi, New Zealand on Wed, 28 Jan 2026. The weather was absolutely perfect, high 70s/low 80s, and sunny. I went on a shore excursion that showcased several highlights of the island and gave us a good overview of the scenic beauty of this place. Waitangi is famous for being the place where the a treaty was signed in 1840 between the British Crown and various Māori chiefs of New Zealand. It established recognition of the Māori (pronounced "MOUW-ree") as British subjects, and is recognized as the founding of New Zealand. That treaty has come under fire lately from the Māori, who maintain that the original signers got lost in the language barrier and didn't fully understand what they were signing. Recently, a bill was up for vote in the NZ Parliament to define the terms in favor of the European majority, but it received vociferous opposition from the six Māori members of Parliament (out of 123 total) and ended up being voted down. The Māori are enjoying a renaissance of their language and culture, and it is refreshing to see how the general populace is embracing it. The Māori are just 19% of the population of the country, but everyone seems to recognize how much they've contributed to making modern day New Zealand what it is.

Did you know that New Zealand has three official languages? English, as you'd expect, given the early British influence and dominance here. But Māori and sign language are also recognized by the government.

Scotch Tasting

Before I go into more detail about today's tours, let me recap a fun activity from the night before! One of my new solo friends and I attended a premium scotch tasting last night. One of the Viking bartenders hosted, and we sampled four truly top shelf scotch whiskeys.

They were:

• Campbeltown Loch 21 Year Old (blended)
• Highland Park 18 Year Old (Single Cask, made exclusively for Viking)
• Royal Salute 21 Year Old (blended)
• Johnny Walker Blue (blended)

Here's what the bottles looked like:

Premium Scotch Whiskeys

The various pours really looked nice in the glasses. There were several distinct colors.

Tasting Glasses

Highland Park, Viking Exclusive Cask

The bartender walked us through each of the four varieties, commenting on the similarities and differences between each. There were distinct differences in the color, mouthfeel, aroma, spiciness, and smoothness of each. 

If you've ever done a scotch or bourbon tasting, you may be aware of the technique of adding literally one or two small drops of water to your drink. It's said to "open up" the drink and enhance both taste and aroma. I was familiar with doing that, but this time we did a before and after tasting to note the difference. I was genuinely surprised at how much difference it made! The blended scotches each seemed to become more aromatic and smooth, even with the seemingly inconsequential amount of added water. Interestingly though, the Highland Park single cask got more harsh and "spicy". It had the highest alcohol content of the four, so that may be part of it.

Waitangi Bay Sightseeing

The excursion began about 9:00 am. This was another tender port because the docks were too small to accommodate our ship. We anchored about 1/2 mile offshore and took the small tenders to a pier.

Right away, I saw this gull. They were everywhere, of course, but were particularly tame and pretty.

Seagull

We took a short but very scenic motorcoach trip to the town of Kerikeri and stopped at a beautiful park. It's a historic site where they've preserved the two oldest remaining European buildings in New Zealand. The first was the Kerikeri mission house. It was built in 1822 for the Anglican Church Missionary Society's Kerikeri mission and was still occupied by descendants of the original missionaries until the 1970s. The family gifted it to the New Zealand Historical Places Trust in 1974. 

Kerikeri Mission House

The grounds around the house were manicured and very well kept (done by volunteers, I learned!). Here are two of the flower pictures I took.

A Busy Bee

Flowers in Mission House Garden

The other historic building in the historical park was the Stone Store. It was opened in 1836 as the mission's storage depot, and has been continuously operated as a store since then.

The Stone Store

You'd think that this would just be another tacky tourist shop or museum gift store, but it was anything but. They had all sorts of unusual historic items for sale, such as hand-forged nails, hand tools, and lamps. You could also find books and paintings.

Eclectic Goods for Sale in the Stone Store

There were several novelty items, and this one in particular caught my eye. No worries, I didn't buy it. But I still reserve the right to tell a dad joke from time to time!

In Case You're Running Low on Dad Jokes...

The grounds around the two buildings were  exquisite. A stream ran through the site, and included this small waterfall. There were ducks and swans aplenty, as well as numerous sea birds.

Stream on the Grounds of the Historical Park

I saw this young girl watching the ducks in a pond upstream of the waterfall and immediately thought of paintings by the French masters such as Monet or Manet. I had to frame my picture as I thought they might have painted it

Young Girl by the Stream

Here's another view from a foot bridge spanning the stream. The small rapids you see are the same ones in the earlier waterfall picture.

The View Downstream

After exploring the historical ark, we drove a short distance to a beautiful waterfall. It is called Rainbow Falls. The falls were hidden away in a wooded area but there was a well-maintained, paved walkway leading to a couple of excellent viewing points.

Rainbow Falls

Here's a closer view. If you look carefully, you can see two young boys on small rafts at the base of the falls.

Rainbow Falls

After enjoying the falls, we returned to the same pier where we disembarked from the tender. I took this panorama from the beach there.

Te Ti Bay

I was also able to get very close to this gull that was walking on the beach.

Friendly Gull

I wasn't quite ready to go back to the ship, so I took a walk around the nearby town of Paihia. There were a number of small shops, pubs and businesses there. I stopped in one pub to have a pint and get a bite to eat. I thought my beer looked particularly fetching...

Always Time for a Cold One

Later I saw this sign in a pizza shop window. My kind of fitness regimen!

My New Motto

I headed back to the ship, showered and changed, and then attended the port talk for our next stop, Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand.

This was the title slide for the port talk. Perhaps the briefer needs a geography lesson! Got a chuckle from the assembled crowd.

I had dinner with a group of friends, headed to the Explorer's lounge, then toasted and bade farewell to our solo friend who had to go home to be with her son. 

Tomorrow we'll be in Auckland, and I'm looking forward to seeing the big city!

'Til next time,
Cheers,
Jim