34 Hours in New Zealand
It has been a whirlwind. Our flight from Tahiti was again pleasant and uneventful and we got to Auckland at about 12:30 PM on Friday. While waiting for our luggage, Mary was pounced on by the fruit and flower sniffing Beagle who was smelling the banned substances somewhere. The customs agent went through all of her pockets and carry on bags cut came up empty-handed. We were then able to zoom through customs and the rental car desk and we were heading to the rental lot with luggage at 1:00. Our destination is Pahia on the Bay of Islands in Northland, New Zealand which takes us through the heart of Auckland and north on a nicely moving motorway. The windshield wipers came on about 12 times in the first ten miles (why would they put them where the turn signals should be?) but our return to wrong-side driving was otherwise acceptable.
The trip was 4 hours of traffic laden, mostly two-lane travel as it appears that Kiwis also head north on Friday afternoons in the summer. We stop midway through the trip to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat. As it's a little breezy, Mary grabs her sweater from her carry on bag and finds a flower in the pocket. Now she needs to call the Beagle and apologize.
Paihia is a bustling little resort town on a beautiful bay on the northeast coast—all motels, restaurants and tee-shirt shops. Our motel was right on the waterfront and we booked a spectacular studio looking out over the bay and eponymous islands. Our hostess Rose recommended the Peppercorn Restaurant which was sort of a Margaritaville type place on a backpacker sidestreet. We were dubious about the whole thing but the meal (John, lamb, and Mary, veggie main course) along with an inexpensive bottle of NZ Shiraz was spectacular. Always trust the locals to know the best spots.
We were yawning at about 9:00 PM and we realized that we had been up since 2:00 AM local time so it was early to bed. Our clocks have now backed up only 5 hours from our departure time in Minneapolis but of course we are a day ahead so magically that makes us 19 hours ahead. We don’t get it but it is pretty comfortable.
Saturday was huge. We took off on the 9:30 ferry to Russell, one of the nearby islands. It is the original capital of NZ and had a distinctly colonial feel to it. In pre-colonial days Charles Darwin described it as "the hell hole of the Pacific" with all sorts of evil doing by sailors going on. The local Maori leaders and a few missionary types threw the bums out and the long relationship with the UK began as a clean-up operation. We wandered the town, had lunch at Sally’s on the harbor and caught the noon ferry back to Paihia.
We popped into the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where many of the Maori chiefs met with the British representatives to sign the original treaty establishing New Zealand. San Diego friend/NZ Coach Bryce Hodgson seems to believe that one of his ancestors was involved in the process and not necessarily on the Maori team. This was a nice educational hour and a half.
At 2:00 we headed cross island to the Tasman sea on the west coast and reached our Ti Kouka B&B on Hokianga Harbor at 4:00. These folks built their place on a hillside overlooking the harbor and have developed acres of spectacular gardens with a couple guest rooms. If we ever threaten to show you our vacation pictures, just pick these. We grabbed a "take away" meal at Pappa Jacks (John had the fried egg burger with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickled beets; Mary had an egg toasty with nothing) and a beer on our patio.
At 6:00 we joined a tour of the local Waipoua Forest which is the original home of all the Maori and also of the Kauri (pronounced "cody") tree. These trees are as much as two hundred feet tall and one is 4000 years old. The tour was done from the perspective of Maori history and lasted well after dark with much singing and praying. The whole thing was a very moving and spiritual experience. Our group included a couple of Germans, a Dutch family, a Dane, a Bulgarian, a French couple from Quebec, a few Brits and Kiwis and we were the only Americans. It was very fun and we are always pleased that English seems to be the common language of the world.
A spectacular night back on our deck looking out at least a billion stars, including our first look at the Southern Cross and an upside-down Orion the Hunter.
Our access to the internet is going to be hit and miss so we may continue to prepare these but may not be able to post them regularly. Our two readers will be very disappointed.
We were yawning at about 9:00 PM and we realized that we had been up since 2:00 AM local time so it was early to bed. Our clocks have now backed up only 5 hours from our departure time in Minneapolis but of course we are a day ahead so magically that makes us 19 hours ahead. We don’t get it but it is pretty comfortable.
Saturday was huge. We took off on the 9:30 ferry to Russell, one of the nearby islands. It is the original capital of NZ and had a distinctly colonial feel to it. In pre-colonial days Charles Darwin described it as "the hell hole of the Pacific" with all sorts of evil doing by sailors going on. The local Maori leaders and a few missionary types threw the bums out and the long relationship with the UK began as a clean-up operation. We wandered the town, had lunch at Sally’s on the harbor and caught the noon ferry back to Paihia.
We popped into the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where many of the Maori chiefs met with the British representatives to sign the original treaty establishing New Zealand. San Diego friend/NZ Coach Bryce Hodgson seems to believe that one of his ancestors was involved in the process and not necessarily on the Maori team. This was a nice educational hour and a half.
At 2:00 we headed cross island to the Tasman sea on the west coast and reached our Ti Kouka B&B on Hokianga Harbor at 4:00. These folks built their place on a hillside overlooking the harbor and have developed acres of spectacular gardens with a couple guest rooms. If we ever threaten to show you our vacation pictures, just pick these. We grabbed a "take away" meal at Pappa Jacks (John had the fried egg burger with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickled beets; Mary had an egg toasty with nothing) and a beer on our patio.
At 6:00 we joined a tour of the local Waipoua Forest which is the original home of all the Maori and also of the Kauri (pronounced "cody") tree. These trees are as much as two hundred feet tall and one is 4000 years old. The tour was done from the perspective of Maori history and lasted well after dark with much singing and praying. The whole thing was a very moving and spiritual experience. Our group included a couple of Germans, a Dutch family, a Dane, a Bulgarian, a French couple from Quebec, a few Brits and Kiwis and we were the only Americans. It was very fun and we are always pleased that English seems to be the common language of the world.
A spectacular night back on our deck looking out at least a billion stars, including our first look at the Southern Cross and an upside-down Orion the Hunter.
Our access to the internet is going to be hit and miss so we may continue to prepare these but may not be able to post them regularly. Our two readers will be very disappointed.
Today’s headline: Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919 – 2008 - New Zealand Weekend Herald.
No comments:
Post a Comment