Sunday 17 March

Whangarei
We are back in Whangarei, which is actually pronounced Fungarai. It seems that the Maori words which begin Wha are all pronounced Fu... I can't begin to work out why, because until the European settlers Maori was not a written language and I think I can remember hearing or reading that one of the Maori chiefs went to England, to Cambridge University to work out an alphabet for it. So how and why it was decided to write the sound 'fu' as 'wha' seems very strange.
The promised rain came in small quantities at intervals during last night and then in earnest about 07.30 this morning, and lasted for about three hours. For the rest of the day there has been short periods of drizzle, not a lot in volume, but very wetting. We are settled into a small but perfectly adequate cabin at the Campsite here in Whangarei where we stayed nearly a week ago. It is a comfortable and quiet campsite and the cabin has a nice bathroom with a shower and a kitchenette with fridge, toaster, kettle, sink and crockery and cutlery. We have decided to spend the last two nights here. We were going to go further south tomorrow, closer to Auckland, but we are comfortable here, it is only about two hours from Auckland and we can sort out the car and our re-packing at our leisure. In fact we did quite a lot this afternoon, between the showers. We have got everything dry and as we aren't going to sleep in the car anymore, I can start getting rid of some of the throw-away things I brought from the U.K. we are also re-distributing some of the things we won't use anymore, things like cling film, aluminium foil and washing up liquid.
We walked into Whangarei this afternoon between the showers, it's difficult to judge a place on a Sunday afternoon in not very nice weather, but the centre looked a bit sad and maybe a bit run down,  but there was a very nice harbour, wharf and marina, with a pedestrian walkway and some cafes.
I wasn't aware that today is St Patricks Day until we saw the street party going on outside an Irish Pub. They had possibly the worst Ceilidh band I have ever heard, but it sounded a bit better after a good pint of  Guinness.
It is difficult not to make racial stereotypes, but practically all the Maoris we have seen have similar physical characteristics. They are very solidly built with heavy shoulders and torsos. The men particularly have very thick necks, in fact they all look like props. We have had some interesting conversations with several Maoris and what comes across without exception is their pride in who they are and their heritage. When they speak of the past and their ancestors they use 'we' rather 'they', and frequently refer to 'our people'. We were told, by a Maori, that much of their history, their beliefs and customs is still unknown and has not been fully shared, because they choose not to, it belongs to them and them alone. He told us that the Spanish were the first people to come ashore in the area around the Bay of Islands, but it was never recorded because they didn't survive. Somewhere there is a cave where the Maori hid their suits of armour and other remains, but it will never be revealed. All very interesting stuff.