Friday 16 March

Russell, Bay of Islands
After leaving Kerikeri we took a back road to Russell, it started off on a sealed road and then became a windy gravel road (once again), up and over and round a headland. It seemed to be almost completely unnpopulated. This time there didn't even appear to be any cattle stations, it was just bush, hugging the mountainsides. There was a little rain on the way and there has been a very little more since we arrived here. The sky is overcast with thick black clouds. In England I would be positive that there will be rain, however here I am not so sure, not at the moment anyway.
Even in dull and cloudy weather Russell is a charming place, it is like stepping back more than a hundred years. Around the Bay, close to the shore there are some beautiful houses, in an excellent state of repair, preserved exactly as they would have been at the end of the 19C. Russell started off life as a depot for whaling and sealing crews, all male groups,! as the boats put in, a rowdy,  lawless place. Today it is a picture of gentility, beautiful houses, so very expensive, and beautiful people. Newer houses have been built higher up, tucked into the mountainsides, also looking so very expensive. Tomorrow we will take a cruise on a sailing boat, around the bay and among the islands. We hope the rain holds off a bit longer.