Water and Islands!

A few more goodbyes this morning, and eight of us load the van for our four days further north in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands.  It feels a little strange to be traveling in a smaller group like I left something behind.

We have been on the road less than an hour when the van starts vibrating.  Neal, a retired GM executive, believes it’s the drive shaft so our driver finds an auto repair place with a nearby coffee shop for us.  We relax with drinks while a new van is brought to us, and after 1 1/2 hour delay, we continue our travels.

Phil says it’s the first group he has ever brought to Silverdale Industrial Park!

Parry Kauri Park is a small natural preserve for the native kauri, New Zealand’s most famous tree.  I stroll along wooden boardwalks admiring trees, and ferns, vines, and bushes.  An 800 year old kauri tree and its neighboring 600 year old one, are amazing in size and breadth of the trunk.  It is easy to see why they were desired for timber since they tower over the other trees growing straight towards the sun.

These trees don’t mature until they are 500 years old and one is known to be 2,000 years old!  They are only on the North Island since the south is too cold.  

Silver ferns are also along the walks which I can now identify with their silvery stalks and the frond’s silvery white undersides even though the tops are a bright green.  The Māori used these as aids laying the arrow-shaped tips in the direction of travel and the silvery underside of the fern reflected white guiding them in the moonlight.

The attached museum is filled with memorabilia of a time spent logging and in the timber industry.  Tools, wagons, chains and saws, along with photographs of a difficult but productive time in early New Zealand are abundant.  There are also artifacts of domestic life…wedding dresses, china, doilies, kitchen utensils and bowls.

The kauai trees exude a resinous “gum” through injuries to its bark which looks like a large lump and may fall off or remain part of the stump.  In the museum, it resembles large chunks of amber, and these are hunted and prized as valuable pieces that can be turned into jewelry or other decorative items.

We pass Uretiti Beach…a “nature” beach.  Drive on!  And see Hen and Chicks Island where a series of smaller rocky outcroppings seem to follow the larger one all in a row.  Norfolk Island Pines, growing now on hilltops and even in yards, were initially used for ship masts, but the wood is brittle, and the masts would break.

In 1999, Kawakawa, a poor town populated by residents on social welfare became a tourist attraction when a local artist created a work on art on the main street.  The Hundertwasser public toilets are an international work of art!  The male toilet is fashioned with irregular, colorful tiles, small sculptures, pieces of glass, and incorporates a live tree!  The female side is similar with tiles and recycled glass bottles and bricks.  Both have all the necessary toilet parts, and are not only a place to visit just to see them, but they work!  I can attest to that!

Oh, how I wish I could still post pictures!

In 1769, English Lt. James Cook was looking for the southern continent.  Belief at that time was there must be a southern landmass similar to the northern ones to keep the earth balanced.  He found the Bay of Islands, spent ten days here, traded with the Māori, and charted the bay.  He left, sailed along the coast of Australia which he charted also, and returned to England to become Captain James Cook.  On a subsequent voyage, he and his crew were attacked and cannibalized in Hawaii.

Paihia is a small coastal resort town, and my room with a large picture window and outside patio overlooks a tidal rocky beach.  I see islands in the distance along with the shining, undulating surface of the water and hear the soft waves.  There are palm trees, sailboats, and a grassy green lawn between my patio and the water.  Resident ducks, some with chicks, follow me on walkways and join me on the patio as I write begging for a treat.  These ducks are well-fed and so cute!

Across the bay, we will be visiting Russell, the first capital, but also the site of the first printing press in New Zealand brought by the French who printed Bibles for the Māori.

In 1814, Whatangi is also where Samuel Marsden, the first European minister living in New Zealand, introduced religion, grapes which developed into the wine industry, and saws and carpenters for the timber trade.  He learned the Māori language and often served as a translator.

I ask about the Māori names of places which seem so prevalent in New Zealand.  Both Australia and New Zealand have worked to change and/or include native names, language, and descriptions in their cultures.

Dinner is the best roasted venison of the trip and concludes with possibly the best dessert EVER!  A rectangular white plate is decorated with plum gelato sitting in chocolate crumble, a plum purée with a macaron on top, and a crème brûlée with plum jam at the bottom.  I almost licked my plate!

I have a restful night, but I continue to look for the aurora borealis, but no luck yet.  In the morning, we board a catamaran for a harbor cruise around the various islands.  Rain seems to follow us, and sun gives way to dark clouds and showers when we are on the water.  I leave the open top deck for a few minutes but head back upstairs with my multiple layers…I could use one more with the wind!…as the sprinkles fade to clouds.  Spray from the waves soak my pants, but I put my backpack in my lap, pull my raincoat hood tight over my head, and my only exposure is a small oval of my face!

We cruise past multiple islands of various sizes rising from the water in shades of green, mostly wooded, some populated while others are not, and we even see and wave to a few campers!  James Cook counted 144 island in the bay, but only 85 of them really qualify as islands….a landmass above water at high tide and having vegetation.  A few small rocky outcroppings are covered by white squawking terns or gulls.  Teenagers on board a topsail schooner for an eight day experience… no internet, no tvs…sail by waving.  It must be laundry day since I see lines strung with clothes drying in the breeze.

Zane Grey, lover of big-game fishing and a popular American author, was a frequent guest in the Bay of Islands and finally a permanent resident from 1915-1930.  Cormorants are white dots in trees by the shoreline.  They have special oil on their feathers which make them both fliers and swimmers

Our boat’s driver/commentator is wonderful filled with information and fun stories such as a house we pass that recently sold for 8 million dollars.  While they were digging in the yard, they found a cannonball which was shot from Cook’s ship, the Endeavor.  They had been using it for a doorstop, but knowing its history, I hope it will occupy a place of honor at least on a shelf!

I learn about a grass from Africa which sailors used to treat scurvy long ago and probably came with seeds in soil dumped on shore.  Manukau trees line the bank, and honey produced from these are an effective natural medication for gut health.  An invasive seaweed from California has invaded the bay.  The government has spent 8-9 million dollars to eradicate it, and anchoring, swimming, or fishing is prohibited in the area.  

Project Island Song is dedicated to a pest-free wildlife sanctuary covering seven islands in the bay.  They are working to restore and protect the environment for today and the future returning birds and their songs to the area.

New Zealand almost became a French colony instead of a British one.  The French explorers checked out various islands with a Māori chief, and built a hospital here for soldiers with scurvy.  They stayed 3 months, but breached Māori customs and 25 crew members were killed and cannibalized in an area know as Assassination Cove.  The French retaliated and killed several hundred natives and the rest fled.  This led to the Maori’s distrust of the French and alliance with the English.

Beautiful homes are sparsely dispersed throughout the islands, and Queen Elizabeth accepted an invitation to visit one when she was visiting on the Britannia.  

We stop on one of the islands for a hike up a trail, trying to avoid animal droppings without much luck, to see sheep grazing near the ocean in the background.  We relax by the beach with chicken flavored crisps and watch boat traffic.

We disembark at Russell for lunch at the oldest pub in New Zealand, the “Duke of Marlborough”, which began its life in 1827 as “Johnny Johnston’s Grog Shop”.  Russell, once known as the “Hellhole of the Pacific”, was the largest whaling port in the southern hemisphere in the 1830’s.  After twelve months at sea, 500 whalers would descend on the town creating chaos, prostitution was one of the largest industries, and local women often entered into three-week marriages.

The Grog Shop’s name was changed to the Duke of Marlborough, at that time the richest man in the world, hoping to give the pub and hotel a degree of respectability.  We stroll along the streets stopping at a thrift shop and wander the church’s cemetery looking at weathered headstones.  Christ Church is New Zealand’s first church, and one of its early construction donors was Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, who could not believe the “very refuse of society” he saw walking around Russell!

On the return trip to Pahlia, I turn my face to the sun and my hair is blowing while the boat is rocking.  This is the life!