Russell – the Hell hole of the Pacific

Friday 10th May and Saturday 11th May, 2013

We packed up our things but before we could say goodbye to Auckland we needed to pick up the car we were trusting to get us around for the next two months. We’d got a fantastic deal from Ace Rental Cars that worked out at less than £500 (and a great deal on car hire excess insurance) so we were a little dubious about the quality of car we’d have.

We needn’t have worried – the car was pretty new and certainly had enough room for our baggage even if it was a petrol based automatic. I’d never heard of a Nissan Tiida though.

A Nissan Tiida
Our trusty(?) wheels

Having discovered that our canny purchase of a Mifi was almost useless in New Zealand (and instead plumped for a SIM card in my phone) we decided we needed a GPS. Pulling into an out of town shopping centre we found three likely outlets, a quick scoot round the different stores found the Good Guys offering a Garmin Nuvi 40 for $40 less than their competitors (and less than the UK price on Amazon). At the till it turned out that the price on the shelf was wrong (by about $40) but to their credit they still honoured it. Bargain.

The drive to Russell was a long one and as Christine was still under the weather she did not enjoy the winding roads which meant we focused on getting to Russell rather than soaking up the beautiful scenery. We did stop at Waipu Cove (because no matter how mature you might be that’s a funny name).

Russell had been recommended to us and it didn’t disappoint. It is a peaceful, romantic, village on the sea and you could understand why the people in the room we’d booked had decided to stay an additional night (Triton Suites Motel generously gave us a room with a spa bath instead ) . From our walk around the town it was hard to imagine that the place had once been so notorious and debauched that it was called the Hell hole of the Pacific.

As we walked through the town the next morning we found groups of buskers singing country songs and along the pier some people line dancing. Not a typical Saturday morning in Russell but part of the Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival. After poking our head into the Fullers tours office (where they ended up recommending one of their competitors) we came across the site of the oldest church in New Zealand (the current building was rebuilt with Charles Darwin amongst the financial contributors on his journey through on HMS Beagle) and then we caught the ferry from Opua to Okiate and then to Paris.

On the way to Paihia we doubled back and visited Kawakawa to visit the public toilets. Not (just) to use them, but because the toilets designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser are probably amongst, if not the, most photographed toilets in the world:

Distance travelled over two days: 286km

Total distance travelled: 20,213km

About Benjamin Welby

Hi, I'm Benjamin Welby. I'm a displaced northerner currently living in Croydon, I church with a group of Christians who meet in a Soho nightclub on Wednesdays and I support Bradford City. I've an academic background in History, Politics and International Development. I work for the Government Digital Service but I left my heart in local government. This blog is infrequently updated and may feature any, all or none of these things...