Homeword Bound

I checked Auckland weather just before I went to bed and there were gale and storm warnings for the next day all along the coast. The reality was much easier than the weather reports.  Rattler didn’t give me any grief and my GPS took me directly back to Scotties.  The lady who booked me said it has just been crazy busy for them.  There are no cars available from any of the big car rental companies and no hotel rooms.  She said it has been awful this week with people who hadn't made reservations. 

I was early for my flight and went outside to get my walk in but too windy and rainy.  I was happy to curl up in the Air NZ lounge and doze, read and nibble my way through the afternoon. The customs guy tell me the big jets will get out tonight in spite of the storm. 

The flight home was easy. When I walked through the Vancouver airport I had the oddest feeling that I had never been away and the last six weeks  were a dream. The feeling didn't go away when I landed in Edmonton and the temperature was above 0 with hardly any snow.  My biological weather clock is going to need a reset. 

So dear readers it is au revoir for now. Thank you for sticking with me through this journey. There is one more stage in my year long Odyssey. Strider is waiting patiently for me to bring him home from the east coast. That will be later in the spring. We will have to wait and see where the road takes. Until then may the sun shine down upon you and yours and all the best on your own adventures.  

Tucker Thompson on the Bay of Islands

The Tucker Thompson is a replica of an 1810 square rigged, eight sailed, schooner. It was started by Tucker and finished by his son who also helped build the replica of the Bounty. It is now operated as a trust and in the summer they do day tours to make money so in the winter they can take out youth a week at a time to teach them skills and leadership. 

Our Captain

It was a good day for sailing; cloudy, lots of wind and an 'eager to be helpful' group.  Some learned how to raise sails, climb rigging, crawl out on on the bow spit, and even steer.  We were a full crowd and I was content to watch.  

This guy told me he recently had two hip replacements and wanted to test out how well they worked. When he came back from walking the rigging and sitting on the bowsprit he was so happy, an important day for him

The bay is huge, filled with almost 150 islands. It would have been a challenge for the early explorers to navigate and survey them.  

We landed on an island that has been predator proofed and turned into a nature trust.  We could walk to the other side looking for the birds, swim off the beach or just hang out while they prepared lunch on deck.  Then we sailed back to Russell and the ferry back to Paihia.  

The best part of the day was when three young Orcas swam along with us but I had my wide angle lens on so the image will have to be in our minds eye.

Waitangi, Heart of New Zealand

A good night's rest and I'm ready to explore. It is fitting that the last stop on my journey is here in the northland.  It is where the Maori first settled 800 years ago and where the Europeans first came to rest up from whaling and exploration and to trade with the Maoris. The northland has had a violent history between Maori tribes and then with the Europeans, who brought muskets but not their traditions of law and order. By 1840 the Maori's were being decimated and were receptive to making peace. They chose the English to partner with and after much debate amongst themselves the chiefs signed the Treaty which was better in the conception than the implementation. In the last 25 years the country has done much to make up for past injustice and last week they opened a museum on the grounds to document the history of the Treaty and subsequent actions. 

Now Waitiangi Day is celebrated by both Maoris and Europeans as a national holiday and there are big ceremonies here every year. When my host came to pick me up I told him how touching the day had been. He was so glad I felt like that and told me what it meant to him.. Apparently the people that owned his property before wouldn't allow the Maori to put their canoe's in for the ceremonial paddle over to the Treaty Grounds. The first year he owned the property he opened it up and now hundreds of Maori's come and the big ceremonial canoe is kept on his property for the whole week of celebrations.  He said he gets teary every time. He is a very good man.

 Here is my motel and part of the area where the Maori met to trade and make decisions. 

And the falls that kayakers can paddle under depending on the rainfall

When I told my host I was going to the Waitangi Treaty grounds my host suggested I walk over on the track that starts by the motel.  A 6+ km walk and he said it was beautiful. It started through familiar forest areas that you dear reader have seen many of before. This one had some different flowers and grasses

 and then it traversed a large Mangrove forest that was amazing. 

I've never seen anything like it before

 

Mudflats that look like miniature forests

For my last NZ trek I managed to find a track just as rugged as my first on the Coromandel where I took a face plant.  This one wasn't as steep and luckily not wet and slippery 

I knew I was getting closer when I could hear the Maori chant 

unfortunately they weren't quite warriors.

The Treaty Grounds have a dramatic view. It felt a little like being on the Plains of Abraham, people were quiet, just taking it all in while they waited for their tours to start. 

Especially this tired group of young hikers

This Maori meeting house was built after the area was made a park and used for all sorts of community activities besides entertaining us

The Maori canoes have notches in the hull to create bubbles that reduce the resistance and allow the canoe to go faster. Competitive sailing boats now use the scales on their hulls too.

The really big canoe above would hold 80 paddlers, The one below was easier to photograph.

We also had a show that I really enjoyed. It was similar but different enough than the first one.  

Afterwords they were talking to people outside and posing for pictures. The big guy called out saying 'Hey, lady with the camera, come here and get your picture taken too." 

So I did

A Day of Rest

The drive over was beautiful and an exercise in frustration as there were no places to pull over and get pictures of the beautiful landscape it being Sunday and a lot of traffic for a side road. I felt tired and woozy so passed up on a couple of walks. It was only a two hour drive over to Kietkuri where I got groceries for the last time, a weird feeling.

The whole area was this green and it reminded me of Ireland

After all the activity the last few days I crashed when I checked into this nice little motel. There are only 14 units and it is comfortable with a great view down to the flatlands where the Maori did their trading and where the canoes departed with 500 chief to sign the Treaty of Witianga with the British in 1840. The flatlands were a traditional meeting place for Maori and often there would be 60-100 war canoes drawn up in the area where the camp ground now is.

My family is full of good news, sick kids and missing having easy access to me. We will make it up when we are all together after I return.

The Waipoua Kauri Forest and the Road to Opononi

A wonderful recovery this morning, starting with finding my jewelry bag. I should never mess with my packing system. The rest of the day the wind was at my back as I zipped along in my little Rattler.  Another long driving day back on the 15km/hr turnipike for much of the way.  I picked up bread and fruit at a perfect little Saturday market then stopped at a depressingly good Kauri Wood Museum showing how they lived in the mid 1800’s and devastated the forests..  Further down the road I saw a bunch of upended Kauri tree stumps behind a fence and a sign that said Wood Art.  They were using old stumps dug out of swamps and farmer’s fields, paua shells and glass work to make some huge beautiful objects.  I got some small gifts then pushed on.

I began finding signs to Kauri forest parks but the access roads were all 10+kms down rough gravel  and I didn’t trust Rattler to make it without a flat tire.  I finally came to the sign for the largest park and as the gravel road was only 1.5km how bad could that be?  Well there were several places where the road was so narrowly carved out of the hill that it was one lane, only one SUV had to back up a ways for me.  

When I reached the reception area it was small and only about half a dozen other vehicles were there. I asked the lady about walks and she said I could go by myself but maybe I would like to come on the Twilight Tour in the evening as it was very special and it was hot for a walk now.  She suggested I go to my hotel and sort myself out (not sure what needed sorting) and come back on the tour.  For better or worse I have come to trust when people try to give me a clue that maybe I should try a different way and I wanted to do the night tour anyway.

The road to town was longer than I expected and driving through the forest was like driving through Jurassic Park, so lush, the ferns so high and it went on for 20+ kms then dropped down to a beautiful bay. Turns out there were a couple of other signs along the way with easy access to the trees but by then I had a mission. My hotel is small, not even 20 rooms, which are also small but have good character and are nicely finished.  I got signed up, sorted out and gobbled down some fish and chips before they came to pick me up.

It was the best evening of the whole trip.  We were gone for over 4 hours and being in the forest at twilight and in the dark was magical. There were eight of us and no one else around. Billy Boy was our guide and full of stories about the uses of the plants, Maori legends, and the relationship between the land, the sea and the people, he had an assistant who also knew a lot. The path was not difficult and the further in we went the taller the upper story became. When we got near the Father of All Trees and 3,500 years old Billy Boy began singing and chanting. He was respectful of the place and understated, which made it all the more powerful.  We walked looking down and then when we turned and looked up everyone let out a gasp in wonder at the size.  We took time and heard legends then walked quietly back to the van. It would have been enough but then it got even better when we went to the next forest, which by then was almost dark. We walked in to see the God of the Forest just as the last light was leaving it.  At, 2,000 years old with it had 40 different species of trees  and plants growing from its limbs and it was still making viable pine cones. They  brought out a special tea sweetened with Tee Tree honey and we drank in honour of the spirit of the trees.   I could go on for pages suffice it to say that when we were coming back everyone said being there was the best experience they had had in NZ.  I felt as if I began with the great day trip up to the tip of the Coromandel, had some wonderful experiences on the tour in the middle and now am finishing with another experience that adds a sense of wonder at what this country has to offer and now a few days to rest up in the Bay of Islands.

The Four Sisters

The Father of all Tree the wide angle lens does not do it justice at 1500 years old and over 13 meters across

The God of the Forest is 3500 Years old and 17 plus metres across

The oldest tree in the NZ is Te Matau Ngahere The Father of the Forest is 3,500 years old

 Taken in the dark from a different viewpoint to get the proportion

with someone in front.

Pictures of the rest of the other parts of the day  to follow. 

Well, That Day is Over

No pictures today. Too long, too difficult and too many near misses. The first 8 hours from Napier to Auckland on the bus were on a regular bus. The route is lovely going from farmlands, orchards and vineyards through the mountains to Taupo near Rotorura where I could see the geysers and vents in the distance. From Hamilton to Auckland it could have been Alberta.  I was glad to be the passenger I had a better view and it would have been an exhausting drive in one day.

The day then went into a nose dive. On the outskirts of Auckland we transferred to an airport shuttle bus without air conditioning on the hottest day of the year. It was the kind of shuttle that would weave it's way through Leduc and Nisku before going to the airport. I thought I would swelter to death and so did everyone else.  Poor bus driver. Anyway I found the Avis desk and they had no record or me. I looked up my reservation on Expedia and it turned out it was with a company that they had never heard of. I went over to my trusty I Site and thankfully they knew. It is a little independent company that I had to call to come and pick me up.  They are tiny, tucked away in the industrial service area. I have no idea why I chose them, probably the cheapest. Anyway I have a little Honda that will do the job.

The problem was getting through Auckland at rush hour especially when my GPS froze part way through. Luckily the traffic was so slow I had time to fix it at a red light. The worst was going over the big bridge I had sailed under over 5 weeks ago. Six lanes of traffic in each direction and on the other side of the bridge going off in different directions.  Just glad to get out of town. It was another hour to my B&B. When I arrived the lady had double booked her room and had no recollection of my coming. She offered me a room in the basement which will work for the night.  Everything is booked not just with Chinese New Year but February is also wedding month.   And to finish it off  I left my jewelry bag at the hotel in Napier.

In less than a week I will be home.  A lot has happened while I have been gone and I am looking forward to being with my friends and having a family reunion.