BAY OF ISLANDS - NEW ZEALAND

12th - 18th Jul 2011

Bernie, my latest drinking buddy

Kia ora! Aianei ahau hei Aotearoa. E hoki ana ahau ki Waitangi te kainga tahu hoa. Ka nui ataahua wahi me ka pai te ahua o te rangi. Ka nui te hari o toku ngakau. I haere mai ahau i toku kainga rua rangi. Ko te mohio ki te whakarongo e mohio ana ahau, tena ko te korero e kore e tino mohio. He itiiti noa iho taku mohio. Kia apititutia! "Kia whana te hingahinga nga tupapaku". "E kawhakina! Tetahi momo ki te kainga". Ahakoa he iti te matakahi, ka pukuru i a au te totara. He rangatira he hoa matenga mou, kia kore koe a whakarerea. England v. All Blacks? Iti noa ana, he pito mata! He manako te koura i kore ai. Whakapuakina mai o whakaaro? Kati te mahi mo tenei ra. "Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora........etc".

I hope that's clear then. My Maori is improving.
Thanks to Barry, a Maori guide up here ( you will hear more about him later ), I have learnt some interesting facts about New Zealand. You may, of course, know these already. If so, forgive me for talking boring old hat. New Zealand was first settled about 1000yrs ago. The first people to arrive here, by canoe, were a chap called Kupe, his wife, children, dog and a few mates from Tahiti where it was getting a bit overcrowded. It was his wife who first spotted the islands announcing "Aotearoa", meaning 'land of the long white cloud' which became the Maori name for the place. They were followed by more people from other parts of Polynesia and formed 7 tribes mostly living in the north island around what is now Auckland ( Waitemata ). The first European to discover, and map, the place was the Dutchman Abel Tasman, in 1642, who was on a trading mission from the Dutch East India Company. He called the place Nieuw Zeeland after Zeeland ( in Holland? ), hence New Zealand. He landed a shore party but due to a slight misunderstanding with the locals, because they didn't understand each other's language, was attacked by Maoris and four of his men were killed. He bravely sailed away. The Dutch East India Company was not impressed and gave, or sold, his maps to England. Helped by these maps, in 1769 Capt James Cook ( and some Frenchman ) arrived. He had sensibly taken the precaution of taking with him, from Tahiti ( all the Polynesian Islands speak a similar language ), an interpreter! He successfully talked his way ashore. He further mapped the place and introduced permanent English and other European settlers, initially from the whaling community. The controversial Treaty of Waitangi was signed with the Maoris in 1840 and New Zealand became a British colony. The rest is history.



I dashed off, by Northliner bus, up to the Bay of Islands, near Russell, to stay with friends ( ex Vietnam Airlines ) who have recently emigrated. Most of the houses around there are built up on high ground with spectacular sea views. This ( left ) was the view from our verandah, and this was a modest place compared to many. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ( born Claire Mary Theresa Rawstron ) , the well known heavy metal singer, lives in Russell. She was nowhere to be seen, or heard for that matter.

I was very well entertained up there, hence this latest missive has taken a long time to appear.



Left: Another view of the coast. Impossible to do it justice with my poor photographic skills but, believe me, the area is pretty fantastic....and lots of expensive looking houses. Ferry services operate to connect outlying bits of the mainland to avoid long and tortuous road journeys.

 I went on a local boat trip around the islands. There are 144 of them in the area, some inhabited, most not. Glorious scenery. We also saw a couple of 'pods'of dolphins which sometimes leapt spectacularly out of the water alongside the boat. One pod had a couple of small calves with them; not a common sight. My problem was to photograph them. When they leapt, my stupid camera took a couple of seconds to focus before going 'click'. By that time they were underwater again. So, hear, right, is a good pic of a bunch of dolphins having just leapt spectacularly.

Left: OK, here are some of the disobliging brutes having a swim around......

Right:  .........and one of the small calves. There are strict rules about viewing dolphins so as not to harass them because these calves have to feed every 5 minutes or so, or they die. Therefore limits on how long you can hang around apply and no speeding to stampede them. Dolphins can live up to 60 years old. One found dead ( of old age ) on the beach near here was reckoned to be 70. The marlin, yellow tail tuna, mako, thresher and hammerhead shark are not accorded such consideration, as the trophies on the walls of the Swordfish Club prove.

Left: 'Hole in the Rock' Island, quite a long way out. It was quite choppy with a fair swell here....

.......but we still managed to squeeze the boat through ( it was quite a large catamaran thing ) with only a yard or two to spare on either side. I suspect the driver must be quite practised at doing this. 

 

Left: Inside the Swordfish Club; the haunt of the local 'big game' fishermen, and many others. The large 'replica' blue marlin on the wall is a cast of the largest caught off this shore, sometime in the 1980s. It weighed in at 1029lbs. A mere tiddler compared to the record size caught ( on rod and line ) for one of these which is 1805lbs. I bet that took out a lot of his backing line! I wonder what fly he was using.

Right: ....and a few more of the trophies which lined the walls. It seems that the other 'trophy' fish caught are yellow tailed tuna, swordfish otherwise known as broadbill ( very rare ), mako, thresher and hammerhead sharks. It was a very social place along with other local joints such as The Duke of Marlbrough, Sally's coffee shop and the local Pub.

Left: One of the local sights, the Rainbow Falls, near the town of Kerikeri.

Right: My hosts, Debbie and daughter Dominique, outside their newly founded restaurant. This was built beside the Omata vineyard and  recently opened to cater for wedding parties in the summer months. ( Oct - April ). Again, this place has stunning views over one of the many sea inlets ( with impossible to remember Maori names ). At the time of writing they were still trying to come up with a good name for it; not helped by my ridiculous suggestions. Your help would, I'm sure, be much appreciated.

This is just a brief start to my NZ travels and I am way behind with this blog due to being extensively entertained and, my excuse, slow and not easy to find internet ( cafe ) faclities. Amazing the people you meet. To get a medical certificate I went to the local quack in Russell to discover he had been the RAMC Medical Officer attached to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for 7 years ( they liked him ). As such we had many long-standing friends and 'incidents' to reminisce about. Lots of folk seem to have emigrated here for what they seem to consider a 'better way of life'. There is certainly tons of scope and space for immigration considering the two islands together must be nearly twice the size of Britain with a population of a mere 4.3 million, of which, I am told, 3 million live in the north island above Hamilton. Too early to have my considered opinions about the place yet. My only complaint so far is that it is rather expensive!

Lots more yet to bore you with as I have been travelling mucho and not much inclination to sit down at a blasted keyboard. Stand-by................