Russell, New Zealand

Beck just loves his public baths.

We’ve spent two nights in Russell now. As we drove into town we knew this place was special. We drove down the steep hill into the beautiful Bay of Islands and rounded the corner that led down the main street of Russell. Suddenly the pace slowed down, and there was no hurry to drive through the small downtown. You can’t be in Russell without feeling like you’re on vacation. The people in the 4-square grocery store at the pier had plenty of time to chat. That’s something great about the New Zealanders; they always have time to chat. It really hit me in Auckland when we were shopping for cars, how everyone had time to chat about where we were from and what we were up to. I stopped by one dealer who didn’t think that he had anything appropriate for me to look at, but carried on for about half an hour talking about what we should consider for towing our van and what he just purchased and how happy he was with it.

Back in Russell, we stayed at the large, tidy, and well-situated Top 10 Holiday Park, which is a 10-minute walk from downtown or the beach. It was fun seeing Quinne play with the other children from all over the world at the playground of the holiday park. One of her favorites was Toni Mae from Scotland. She got her first love letter from a seven year old who sounded like he was from Australia. The love letter had a few pictures on it and said “I love Kwin”. We still don’t know his name though. I suspect he will be the first of many.