Russell was the first stop on our camping adventure. Well, technically there was one night spent in a parking lot after our accident, but I’m not counting that one! After having to wait for all the police reports, etc. we weren’t able to make it as far north as we wanted, so the policemen recommended we just freedom camp for a night in a parking lot.
For those of you who don’t know (I didn’t!) “freedom camping” is when you are camping outside of an actual campsite or holiday park. It’s legal to do so unless it’s otherwise posted, so we just set up shop for one night. The downside is you have no power to plug into and you can’t refill your fresh water, so it’s not something we wanted to do for an extended period. We found a local park and just set up for the evening in the parking lot.
The next day, we drove north to Paihia and took a ferry across the water to Russell. Russell is located in what is referred to as the Bay of Islands. It’s beautiful with so many tiny islands dotting the horizon. Once there, we found a spot to camp at a holiday park called Top 10 in Russell. This is a holiday park chain in NZ that we ended up frequenting quite often after our experience in Russell. We had a great spot and had a campsite on a hill with a beautiful view of the islands, especially during the sunset! I wasn’t sure what to expect of holiday parks, but the bathrooms were spotless and the grounds were amazing, complete with an awesome playground and trampoline for Jack! We also had a little crew of baby ducks and kiwi birds that would come hang out with us for some added fun.
After getting everything set up at our campsite (and showering finally!), we walked into town to look for a place to have dinner. We settled on a place called The Gables, which had been around since 1847. They had tables outside by the water with a front row seat for what was shaping up to be an awesome sunset. The restaurant was perfect. We had an amazing dinner and fantastic wine and our server, Emma, was the best. She even gave Jack a water gun in case he needed to keep any seagulls away from our table. Of course that was a huge hit with him and we just had to make sure he was ONLY spraying the seagulls! I joked afterward that I REALLY needed that dinner. We’d had a few stressful days of travel and a rough start with the campervan so it was nice to just relax and enjoy a fabulous meal!
The next day in Russell, the weather was not cooperating for us. It was grey and rainy and there didn’t seem to be much we could do out in Russell while it was pouring rain. We decided to go visit a winery, Omata, that Emma had mentioned to us the night before at dinner. It was located in Russell and they even said they’d come pick us up…jackpot! The winery was up on a hill overlooking the water and the view was gorgeous even in the rainy, cloudy weather, so I can only imagine how amazing it is when it’s nice out. We did a wine tasting and then ordered some wood oven pizzas as well. The place was practically empty due to the less than ideal weather, so Jack got to help make his pizza, which he loved. The other huge hit with him was the winery dog, Molly, who just wanders around. Jack had a dog to pet and a pizza to eat so he was all set. It was a good way to pass some time during the rainy afternoon.
It was nice again the next day before we headed out, so we drove around and checked out some of the local beaches. Unlike the Australia beaches we were at, you can actually get in these and swim…no crocs, no stingers! However, it was a little chilly for that so we opted to just walk along the beach before heading on to our next destination. This is a place I’d love to come back to.
The Detour Diary 