If you’ve been labelled the “Hellhole of the Pacific” it must be a hard slog back to respectability but Russell has pulled it off. Admittedly it took 200 years and a name change (from Kororāreka), but nevertheless it is now one of the most delightful holiday destinations in the Bay of Islands.
Russell is a charming town, off the main tourist drag, but very easily accessible.
Māori were well settled here when Europeans arrived and found a fertile, sheltered harbour with the remains of many local pā sites attesting to long-term residency. Known then as Kororāreka it was a small coastal community which was recognised by seafarers as an ideal place to rest and restock. Its reputation as a hellhole came from the whalers, convicts and other adventurers who established it as a useful but lawless trading centre in the 1830s. Attempts to enforce British law culminated in the treaty signed by local chiefs and British representatives just across the water at Waitangi in 1840.
Today there are two ways to reach Russell; both involve a ferry. (There is a third way avoiding ferries but it’s a long drive.)
Stop in Paihia and take the passenger ferry across the bay – a delightful 15-minute cruise which goes every half hour or so in summer, every hour in winter. You’ll have plenty of
