Winging our way to Bay of Islands

Winging our way to Bay of Islands

New Year’s Day we were off to Bay of Islands via Air NZ connecting through Auckland. When we arrived at the small Rotorua airport we learned the flight would be overweight so we were asked to identify one bag per person which would be “loaded last” or left behind. Carl won the lottery and his was left behind but it made it to our Bay of Islands remote lodge only a couple of hours after we arrived.

Bay of Islands is just as named near the northern most part of the North Islands so it is the most tropical. Our Cliff’s Edge Lodge is also just as named hanging on the edge of a cliff overlooking a
main passage among the islands.






It is a four accommodation lodge operated by Peter and Glennis Meier. They formerly operated Causarina Restaurant and Inn in Austrailia which was recognized as one of the best by American Express. Our daily highlight while there was a three course dinner prepared for guests each night by Peter.

Bay of Islands is also the site of the treaty signed in 1840 by the Maori’s and Captain Hobson
representing the United Kingdom. The Maoris discovered NZ in 950 arriving from the Polynesian Islands. They settled in and had reached a population estimated at 130,000 by 1750 or so when the Dutch explorer Tasman was the first European to discover NZ. They were tribal often warring among themselves, practiced cannibalism until the 1800’s and were skilled in seamanship and agriculture. When the whalers, miners, timber men and finally the missionaries arrived the Maori’s sought out British to establish law and order. The Maoris did not realize the treaty came with disease, loss of lands and a new lifestyle. The Maoris inter married with the Europeans easily though and today only 3% of the Maori’s are full blooded. The treaty was signed near Paihia about 5 miles from our Cliff’s Edge Inn.

Russell, a village near Paihia,was the center of commerce in 1840 in the Bay of Islands and was known as the “hell hole of the Pacific” due to the mix of criminals jumping ship, the absence of the rule of law and the “hospitality” industry set up to serve the visiting mariners. Today it is a genteel setting akin to Key West or Mackinaw Island.