New Zealand time 08:44 AM, Fri 19 Mar
Bookmark and Share
- Reddit
- Twitter
- FaceBook
- StumbleUpon
- Digg
- Linked in
- del.icio.us
- Technorati
- Newsvine
Send a Postcard
Tell a Friend
Print Page

Directory Shortcut

Translate

Featured

Entire Site Search

Free NZ Travel Newsletter

Maps, Driving Routes

Quick Links

Business Centre

Home »Visitor Information »New Zealand Regions »Bay of Islands Activity Highlights

Bay of Islands - Activity Highlights

Bay of Islands | Regional Information | Activity Highlights | Scenic Highlights | History

The Bay of Islands are an aquatic playground. Swim with the dolphins, dive the Rainbow Warrior, go game fishing, or discover the history and culture of the islands.

Featured Tourism Operators in Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands Activity Highlights Overview

Country cafes, gourmet restaurants, kayaking, swimming with dolphins, touching history, walking coastal tracks, seeing Maori war canoes, game fishing, cruising, resting. Bay of Islands has an abundance of different kinds of experiences to connect with the people and culture, ocean and land.

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Yachting in the Bay of Islands and dolphins in the water, Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand

Yachting Bay of Islands
Northland
Photographer: Rob Suisted
(www.naturespic.com)

Visit Cape Brett Lighthouse by walking track or take a boat to Grand Cathedral Cave or 'the hole in the rock'. Follow big game fisherman and American Western writer Zane Grey who caught marlin here in 1921. Be guided through historic sites with story-telling. Feel the roar of noise at Haruru Falls, a rare horseshoe-shaped waterfall that flows to the legendary 'taniwha' or water monster in the lagoon below.

Walk along a red pohutukawa tree blossom-strewn golden sand beach. See whales, penguins, seals and listen to the songs of seabirds. Have a round of golf on the most majestic of courses. Ride a jet-ski in the hot sun, sit in the shade with an iced tea. Always in the Bay of Islands you can feel the past close behind while anticipating the pleasure of what's to come.

Playtime in the Bay of Islands

The Bay of Islands is an aquatic playground lavishly furnished with 144 islands and a myriad of secluded beaches.

Go swimming with dolphins, sailing, big game fishing and kayaking
Take the 'Hole in the Rock' cruise to the tip of Cape Brett
Visit Waitangi National Reserve, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840
Look around Pompallier, in Russell, an original rammed earth Catholic Missionary House
Walk to Haruru Falls—three kilometres from Paihia. The water falls in a horse shoe shape—very rare and quite spectacular

Dive the Rainbow Warrior

Matauri Bay is the final resting place of the Greenpeace flagship, the Rainbow Warrior. Dive trips to the Rainbow Warrior operate out of Matauri Bay and Paihia.

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Historic Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand

Historic Kerikeri, Bay of Islands
Northland
Photographer: Destination Northland
(info@northlandnz.com)

Kerikeri History, Art and Fruit

Kerikeri is a fascinating town with a local community of orchardists and artists.

View the Stone Store and Mission House, examples of early New Zealand architecture
Follow the art and craft trail to get to know some of the artisans
Call into Bishopswood Estate—two wineries and a boutique chocolate factory
Spend a day at Kauri Cliffs Golf Club and Lodge
See kiwis in their natural environment at Aroha Ecological Centre
On the way to Kerikeri, stop in at Kawakawa to visit the famous 'Hundertwasser' designed toilets