The far north!
The last part of New Zealand that we needed to go to was "Northland" - the spike of land pointing north west from Auckland. At the tip is Cape Reinga, where the souls of dead Maori leave New Zealand for the afterlife.
The "crown jewel" of Northland is the Bay of Islands - Paihia. It was here that our old mate James Cook turned up for a look around. They also have loads of friendly dolphins that you can have a look at - and swim with if they're in the mood. Unfortunately when we were there, they weren't. We had a good look at them though.
Paihia is also the site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty was made between the British and various Maori chiefs who wanted British protection. The pros and cons of the treaty itself are still debated passionately, but I won't go into that here. However, the site itself is beautifully maintained, having been gifted to the country by a previous owner. On the site are Maori artifacts - like a war canoe (waka) and meeting house (marae) - all intricately carved.
On Tuesday, we took our trip up to Cape Reinga. The highlight was sandboarding down massive dunes on Ninety Mile Beach.
I for one came away covered from head to toe in sand. I'm still finding some in my hair... The cape itself was nice. It's unfortunate though because despite being told that a certain hill is sacred to Maoris some members of our group insisted on climbing it anyway.
On our way back, we stopped in Whangarei where Tracy's old boss, Alice is now living. We spent a lovely evening with Alice, her mother and her stepfather - who is (I have to say) a pretty accomplished artist.
So now we're on our way back to Auckland where our transport to the USA awaits. Our boat leaves on the 23rd and takes 20 days to get to get to Seattle via Tahiti, Mexico and San Francisco.
The "crown jewel" of Northland is the Bay of Islands - Paihia. It was here that our old mate James Cook turned up for a look around. They also have loads of friendly dolphins that you can have a look at - and swim with if they're in the mood. Unfortunately when we were there, they weren't. We had a good look at them though.
Paihia is also the site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty was made between the British and various Maori chiefs who wanted British protection. The pros and cons of the treaty itself are still debated passionately, but I won't go into that here. However, the site itself is beautifully maintained, having been gifted to the country by a previous owner. On the site are Maori artifacts - like a war canoe (waka) and meeting house (marae) - all intricately carved.
On Tuesday, we took our trip up to Cape Reinga. The highlight was sandboarding down massive dunes on Ninety Mile Beach.
I for one came away covered from head to toe in sand. I'm still finding some in my hair... The cape itself was nice. It's unfortunate though because despite being told that a certain hill is sacred to Maoris some members of our group insisted on climbing it anyway.
On our way back, we stopped in Whangarei where Tracy's old boss, Alice is now living. We spent a lovely evening with Alice, her mother and her stepfather - who is (I have to say) a pretty accomplished artist.
So now we're on our way back to Auckland where our transport to the USA awaits. Our boat leaves on the 23rd and takes 20 days to get to get to Seattle via Tahiti, Mexico and San Francisco.
posted by Iff at
4:45 pm
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