Magical close encounters

MAGGY Oehlbeck gets up close to the legends - past and present - of New Zealand's spectacular Bay of Islands during a cruise on the Oceanic Discoverer.

Enchanting Russell ... the tour visits NZ's first capital which used to be the frontier town of whalers, whores and convicts. Picture: Maggy Oehlbeck

AROUND us the sea is boiling with leaping kawhai being dive-bombed by greedy gannets and gluttonous muttonbirds.

By the time we can get closer, the feeding frenzy ceases and the birds are bobbing about on the heaving water, their bellies too full to take off.

We're aboard the landing craft Xplorer, belonging to the expedition cruise ship Oceanic Discoverer, and we're riding an uncomfortable swell somewhere off the Mokohinaus, a small group of rugged islands 100km northeast of Auckland in Hauraki Gulf.

It's day three of our Bay of Islands to Auckland cruise.

Yesterday, at Piercy Island, off Cape Brett – the island pierced by a huge hole that daredevil boat drivers love to penetrate – a pod of porpoises cavorted and performed stunts that bettered Cirque du Soleil.

We also gingerly edged up to a rocky pinnacle to observe a nesting pair of black-backed gulls, and even saw their chick.

Close encounters of this kind became almost routine throughout our five-day voyage on Oceanic Discoverer, a purpose-built expedition ship and flagship of Cairns-based Coral Princess cruises.

Our journey had begun in Paihia, gateway to New Zealand's magnificent Bay of Islands and site of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where 147 years ago the treaty was signed between the Maori and the British Crown.

We took a stroll around this beautiful estate, learning about the remarkable series of events that took place there, before returning to the Oceanic Discoverer on the Xplorer.

Once alongside, the crew skilfully manoeuvred the Xplorer on to an electrically operated platform at the aft of the ship.

It then rose to the main deck, where we alighted with ease – a template for arrivals and departures on each of our seagoing sorties.

The 63m, 72-passenger Oceanic Discoverer has the style and ambience of a private yacht. She can sidle through narrow gorges, access isolated bays, moor off remote islands, whisk guests to untrodden shores on Xplorer, and still deliver the comforts of larger cruise ships.

A typical day begins with breakfast at 7am. Then it's all aboard Xplorer for the morning's outing, back about 1pm for lunch comprising antipasti, salads, a curry or casserole, fruits and cheeses. Then it's off again for the afternoon excursion.

Pre-dinner cocktails and dinner are a convivial affair. Everyone assembles in the cocktail lounge for a debrief and viewing of images taken by our expedition leader and cameraman.

Dinner comprises a choice of two entrees, mains and dessert, and the galley team delivers outstanding results.

We awake to a brilliant sunrise and slink through the narrow passage into beautiful Whangaroa Harbour, with its unique land forms and dense patches of remnant vegetation.

It's known as the marlin capital of New Zealand; game fishing dates back to 1925, when the American novelist Zane Grey co-founded the Whangaroa Big Game Fishing Club. If you can't gain admission, there are trophies aplenty in the local pub.

An enchanting destination is Russell, New Zealand's first capital, although its reputation as the hellhole of the Pacific in the 1840s wouldn't make you think so.

It was a wild frontier town of sealers, whalers, whores, deserters and time-expired convicts. Nowadays, butter wouldn't melt in Russell's mouth; examples of its graceful colonial architecture stand cheek by jowl with big-buck weekenders.

Charming curiosities include Christ Church (1836), which still wears the musket holes from the conflict between the Maori chief Hone Heke and the British; the serenely beautiful Bishop Pompallier House, gardens and pioneer printery; an intriguing museum; and a tantalising menu of restaurants, antique and gift shops.

Next stop was the achingly beautiful Roberton Island, with its rugged profile, shingle beach, pohutukawa trees heavy with scarlet blooms, and dramatic lookout.

In too-quick succession followed Port Fitzroy, on Great Barrier Island, and the marvellous bird sanctuary and re-forestation project of Tititiri Matangi, near Auckland, where endangered bird species such as the takahe can be viewed at close range.

Last call before Auckland was Kawau Island and the handsomely refurbished Mansion House (circa 1862), where peacocks strut in the grounds.

The beautiful estate was once the residence of New Zealand governor Sir George Grey.

A more creative and diverse cruise itinerary would certainly be hard to find.

The Sunday Telegraph