We’re up to have some brekky and check out by 10 am; we drop off some of our luggage back to the car and just take stuff for one night, as we’re leaving it here for the night

Walking towards the sea, we pop into Mövenpick which has a coffee offer on to include a muffin for an extra 50 cents and enjoy by the waterfront

It gets to just before 10:30 am so we wander to the pier and pick up a ferry return ticket each ($16) and jump aboard the boat that’s there

The ride is just about 10 minutes and gets you lovely views of the Bay of Islands, which is home to 144 islands in this protected marine park

We arrive on the other side of the bay, in Russell, to meet some family friends of Daisy

It’s a warm welcome over coffee and baked goods in The French Coffee House

We then have a stroll up to Flagstaff Hill Historic reserve to get the expansive views of the bay from the peninsula

There’s a walk that takes you down to the other side of that hill – here, we are able to get a glimpse of a weka (many tourists mistake these flightless birds for kiwis but to us they look a bit more like dino-chickens, that we’ve already been lucky enough to see a kiwi firsthand!)

The track takes us to the beach right on the front of Russell and we take the rocky route back to finish our loop

We’re then taken to visit Russell Museum which provides an insight into the volatile history

It seems that the French were attempting to invade and so the Māori people sought out help from the English to protect them; in doing so, the English tricked them by changing some of the terms of the agreement and claimed the land for themselves; as such, the English planted the union jack on the hill, as walked up earlier, and this was brought down four times by the Māori chief

Opposite here is Christ Church which we’re pointed out the bullet holes that haven’t been covered up to be a memory of the difficulties faced

Next, we grab some lunch at Hone’s Garden

Something we definitely wanted to do was visit Long Beach so we kindly get driven over

We were told this would likely be the best place to come across little blue penguins (see the featured image)

The original name of Russell, in Māori, is Kororāreka which translates to mean “sweet penguin”; unfortunately, this derives from a reference to the soup that was traditionally made here, as the little blue penguins were once very common here!

We have no luck seeing penguins and then are taken to our friend’s home, which they had designed and built from scratch, for some tea

After a little sit down, we wrap up to head out for a few drinks before dinner; first off is The Boat Club Bistro

This is a member only place right on the water front where we have a drink each before going to the Duke Of Marlborough

This is both a hotel and pub and has the claim of being the oldest pub in the entirety of New Zealand, having been operating since 1827!

Getting hungry, we go over to GREEN’S Russell – THAI Cuisine

We share a pad thai and chicken green curry – yummy!

Next, we head back to their house and have a few drinks – probably one too many – and get to bed

During the night, Dave is able to hear some kiwis calling ????