“Which part did impress you most?” people keep on asking the two of us after our cruise from the Bay of Plenty to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand.
The answer comes as quickly as simultaneously: The Mokohinau (Pokohinu) Islands – a paradise for those who love solitude, the sights of sh curiously checking out your boat, the sound of birds in a starry night, hikes on long forgotten tracks, dives underneath arches and kayaks in clear water.
“Places like this were the reason why I wanted to be a ranger,” my partner says, and I sense the longing behind these words. It is the same longing I see in his gaze when he looks at the lush green landscape over the steep hills, the deep blue ocean, and the little islands in the background of the Mokohinau Islands off the northeast coast of New Zealand and approximately 25 kilometres northwest of Great Barrier.