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.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Sunday 17 March
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Saturday 16 March
Russell, Bay of Islands
We have had a really great day. We spent it on Lion New Zealand, the 80 ft yacht that Sir Peter Blake used in a round the world race about 25 years ago. He came second! In his previous attempts various bits of his boats had broken off so Lion was specifically built to be much stronger and sturdier, with the result that she was much heavier. He then commissioned another boat and went on to win loads of stuff. Lion is now used to take small groups of people sailing in and around the Bay of Islands. It is the most beautiful boat and we had a fantastic day with Dave, the skipper (who was born in Norwich when his father was stationed at RAF Watton) and Kerry. The experience as well as the actual trip was very good because they involved people in the sailing process, winding (grinding) sails in and out. There were some scary moments as we take led and the boat was at nearly 90° with the sea, or so it seemed to me. We could have done a motorised tour of the Bay and the Islands, just taking in the sights (sites), but this was so much better.
The rain still hasn't happened but it's quite overcast. We really are on countdown now with just two more full days to go. Off to Whangerei tomorrow, then probably on to Auckland and home.
Thursday 14 March
Kerikeri
It was a bit cloudy when we left Ahipara this morning, but soon cleared. We have decided that this few .last days will be slowly-slowly. What we haven't seen now will not be seen. We have ticked off practically everything on list of things we really wanted to do, and there is no way we are going rushing off for something else now. So we will make our way back to Auckland in a number of small hops.
We took the northerly route from Ahipara, back through Kaitaia and hugging the coast. It was beautiful, we stopped in Taipa for a coffee, at a cafe looking out over the bay, so quiet, so peaceful. We took a side road to investigate Taupo Bay, a popular summertime destination for Kiwis, it was just too quiet. It felt as if everyone had gone home for the winter. So we retraced our footsteps back to the main road. The road sides had been bordered with Mangrove Swamps for some way in places the water almost lapping onto the roads. In Taupo Bay there were signs giving information about Tsunami Evacuation procedures and pointing out an escape route. We have heard so much about how sparsely populated the South Island is and how rural, but these parts of the North Island seem more remote than anything we saw there. Amongst the rolling hills we came upon groups of grazing cattle, mostly cows bit some sheep, and the occasional homestead. There were signs with the names of various cattle stations on them, similar to signs we had seen yesterday so we thought that these ones were also government owed Stations with farm managers and some staff running them.
We turned inland into The Puketi Kauri Forest, to a DoC site. It was nice enough, but deserted and there were heavy clouds n the sky and occasional drizzly rain. We decided to head back to he coast and go to Kerikeri, which according to the RG has several things of interest.
We are pitched on a lovely Campsite on a terrace slightly raised above a stream. It's not busy and very quiet, maybe half a dozen other tents and small vans. All the big Motor Homes are on a higher terrace behind us, away from the stream on powered sites. We walled onto Kerikeri this afternoon, to the old settlement and had a very interesting trip to a mock-up of an original Maori fishing village and a garden of indigenous plants. 'Mock-up' might sound a bit naff, bit in fact it was excellently done, encorporating a lot of original items, a carved stone anchor and some old dug-out canoes retrieved from the mangrove swamps amongst others. It was also very informative, with detailed histories of the first missionaries who landed on the Bay of Islands and their relationships with the local Maori tribes. I didn't realise that the Bay of Islands was he first place that white people came fl settle and that those first people were missionaries, although I suppose I might have guessed! Tomorrow we are moving on a very short distance to the southern shores of the Bay of Islands, which also has remains of early missionaries.
Friday 16 March
Russell, Bay of Islands
After leaving Kerikeri we took a back road to Russell, it started off on a sealed road and then became a windy gravel road (once again), up and over and round a headland. It seemed to be almost completely unnpopulated. This time there didn't even appear to be any cattle stations, it was just bush, hugging the mountainsides. There was a little rain on the way and there has been a very little more since we arrived here. The sky is overcast with thick black clouds. In England I would be positive that there will be rain, however here I am not so sure, not at the moment anyway.
Even in dull and cloudy weather Russell is a charming place, it is like stepping back more than a hundred years. Around the Bay, close to the shore there are some beautiful houses, in an excellent state of repair, preserved exactly as they would have been at the end of the 19C. Russell started off life as a depot for whaling and sealing crews, all male groups,! as the boats put in, a rowdy, lawless place. Today it is a picture of gentility, beautiful houses, so very expensive, and beautiful people. Newer houses have been built higher up, tucked into the mountainsides, also looking so very expensive. Tomorrow we will take a cruise on a sailing boat, around the bay and among the islands. We hope the rain holds off a bit longer.
