New Zealand is a country of about the size of Colorado, however, it is long and narrow. No point is more than 200 miles from the ocean. There are 2 main Islands, North and South Island. A third major island, Stewart Island, is about the size of Oahu - about 20 by 40 miles. There are hundreds, if not thousands of small islands scattered around this beautiful land. The North Island is primarily volcanic, while the South Island is primarily an uplift island. The population is just over 4 million. The climate is temperate. Which means at lower elevations, it rarely gets very hot or very cold. Auckland temps vary from about 40 as a low and 80 as a high, while temps on the very south of South Island are colder in winter and warmer in summer. English is the official language, as is Maori - the native people's tongue. One must learn to drive on the other side of the road – not too hard, as the steering wheel is also on the other side of vehicles. The biggest problem Elaine & I have with the transition from USA style driving were turn signals. In USA, our cars have the signals on the right side of the steering column. In NZ, it was on the left. We frequently would end up turning on the windshield wipers when we intended to use the turn signals.
24 Feb to 3 March was spent in the Bay of Islands (BOI), about 4 hours north of Auckland. Zane Grey, a famous American author, brought the Bay of Islands to world attention in the 1930s with his sport deep sea fishing vacations to BOI. As it was February, it is summer in NZ and the weather was exquisite – warm and clear.
You have heard that it is not the destination, but the journey that makes life interesting. With the BOI, it was both the destination and the journey that were memorable. The O’Callaghan’s rented a week at Club Pahia in the BOI. Dennis is an avid fisherman. He has a seaworthy aluminum powerboat sort of named after the firm he founded. His firm is a consultancy on pay and benefits named “Strategic Pay.” The boat is named “Strategic Play.” We loaded all the things necessary for a one week stay at an ocean resort. For Elaine & I that was swim suits, shorts, t-shirts, boogie boards, towels and sunblock.. Liz and Dennis packed lots of toys for Emily, their own personal stuff and fishing gear
We split the costs for rent of the place and proceeded on our venture on Highway 1 – a very busy highway that starts at the Northern tip of NZ and ends at the southern tip of South Island in Bluff (which we visited later on). For the first hour or so, Highway 1 is like an Interstate Highway – 4 lanes divided highway. Most of the time you are driving through the expanding city and suburbs of Auckland. Then you are into the NZ countryside. Beautiful flowers blooming, green pastures, cattle, sheep, lush forests and glimpses of sandy beaches. I must digress about the beaches. NZ has so much ocean coast that beaches stretch for miles, often with few or no people on the beach. After a stop for lunch, we headed to Waipu Cove, a beach about 2 hrs north of Auckland. The waves were really fine and so the boogie boards came out and we boarded for a few hours. The water was not cold at all – after our first week experience in the cold waters of Muruwai, I was afraid that the water would feel too cold to stay in more that an hour at a time. However, Waipu proved that not to be the case. We left at bit tired from the exertion, but with smiles on our faces. Poor Elaine was still suffereing from her cold, but did get some board time.
After another couple hour drive through lush forest and farmlands, we arrived at Pahia and found the resort. A note on farmland for those of you not familiar with the topography of NZ. Farmland is mostly pastureland and is rarely flat land – thus, it is quite scenic as opposed to the monotony of the Great Plains in the USA.
The resort has a fully furnished kitchen living room, dining room 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms and a patio. We just moved our stuff in, went grocery shopping and were all settled in for great conversation and meals.
Sunday, 25th of Feb. Spent the morning visiting our former neighbor from New Lynn in her nursing home in Kerikeri. This lady is 90 years old and sharp. As a child she had polio and was told that she probably would never walk or be able to ride a horse again. Winney (Winifred) proved the doctors wrong and through her strong will, led a very independent life, walking until age 89 when she broke her leg. Kerikeri is a region known for its juicy orange crop – of which we partook.
Our first souvenir of this trip was purchased at a kaleidoscope shop just our side Kerikeri. Its tube is made of kauri wood (a beautiful native wood). The person who makes these kaleidoscopes is very creative and has used all sorts of materials to make them. When we were in Dunedin, I noticed one of her kaleidoscopes for sale in a shop. We definitely got a bargain by buying at the source.
Each day, I would get up early and do an hour or so walk around the village and seashore of Pahia and just enjoy the beauty of NZ. I did tone up my leg muscles with all the hiking and walking.
Monday was our first of 3 fishing trips. A beautiful, cloudless day. By 9 AM we were on the water. Before we fished, we motored out to hole in the rock, a wave eroded feature several miles away from our launch point. The hole is quite large and tour boats actually go in one side and out the other. I’d say the rock is a small island of about 100 ft circumference and the hole is about 30 foot across and maybe 30 foot high, depending on the tide level. The water was nearly glass calm where we launched; however, the further we got from there, the larger the swells became. By the time we reached the rock (about 1:45 hrs from launch) the swells were quite large for a small boat. Maybe 6 to 8 ft. Liz thought it was not a good idea to traverse the hole – so we watched as a tour boat did so. On the water that day we encountered some little blue penguins (there are many variety of penguins that make their home in NZ), several dolphins and loads of seabirds.
Moving to a bit more sheltered area, the fishing began. NZ waters are very rich in fish life. Our efforts were rewarded with a good catch of red snapper, a trevalli, a kawhai (sp?), a pigfish (threw back, as Dennis says they are pretty tasteless) and something they call a grandfather hapuka, which is a type of grouper.
These fish were our evening meals for a couple days. After scratching our fishing itch, we headed for a secluded bay and went ashore on Urupukapuka Island (try pronouncing that one) and enjoyed a picnic, a swim and some laying in the sun.
We fished some more and caught some more – everyone caught fish. On the hour or so return trip a squall came up, the water got pretty choppy and it rained. Fortunately, the boat has a convertible top and we had ponchos as the rain poured down for a short while and visibility became poor. Dennis is a better skipper than skipper was on Gilligan’s Island, so we made it back to the launch with no problem. We enjoyed an evening meal of fresh fish, expertly prepared by Dennis.
Tuesday Dennis took us to Oakura Bay, a secluded bay where he and his family usually do a week or two campout over the Christmas holidays.
During these holidays, a great number of kiwis pack up their families and head for the beach. Traffic in Auckland moves much better with al the people out of town. It was low tide when we arrived there and was ideal for collecting tuatua. Tuatua is a bivalve, something like a clam and very good tasting. Dennis located a very rich bed of tuatuas and within a half hour we had a couple hundred for our next home meal. You can bread them, steam them, microwave them (which Elaine & I did a few weeks later) or yuk, eat them raw. As they live in the sandy bottom, they are gritty unless you let them soak in clean salt water for several hours. Doing this, they then spit out the sand and you can eat them without wearing away your teeth.
The waves were adequate to boogie board, so out came the boards for a while. Then a picnic lunch, a lay in the sun and a trip to the local dairy (like USA convenience store) for some of that wonderful NZ ice cream. Those not from NZ, if you come to NZ eat ice cream, you won’t be disappointed. Those from NZ, you fortunate people get to eat it at will.
We got back to the resort in time for the “owners reception” free drinks and nibbles and an opportunity to meet some of the other guests. Naturally there is a swimming pool (actually 3 pools) and several hot tubs which we partook of on a few nights. By evening, we are usually pretty tired from each days activities and often go to bed quite early.
Wednesday, we took a ferry to Russell and old historic whaling town. Russell was the first European settled area of NZ and briefly served as its capital. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed nearby. Many of the Maori tribal leaders asked for British Protection from other European powers and the treaty enumerates these wishes. The treaty is the foundation of NZ European (pakeha) relations with the native Maori people. Although there were some exploitation of the Maori during the Land Wars of the 1850-1880 period, the Maori retained a portion of their lands and rights, quite the opposite of the USA-Indian and Australian-aborigine experience. As a result, most kiwi families have at some point intermarried with the Maori forming the basis of a truly inter-racial society.
In Russsell, we spent some time at Pompalier House, the site of the first Catholic Mission to NZ. The originally mission house still stands and has been turned into an exhibit of how the missionaries made locally produced bibles and religious books. The guide was a part pakeha part Maori lady with extensive experience in bookbinding and Maori culture. We spent a couple hours just listening to her stories and such.
For lunch we enjoyed fish and chips (French fries) at a local takeaway (fast food joint). Next was a visit to the visitor center. We find these visitor centers a must visit where ever you travel, as they give a good orientation to the place and what to see while there. After that, off to the settler’s museum for so artifacts from times gone by..
Thursday, more fishing, as we have eaten up all the fish and most of the tuatua. It was windy and the waves were choppy. So Dennis said we would fish a bit closer in to shore of an island. Bay of Islands implies a lot of islands and it does live up to that name. Most of the islands are uninhabited or have a small sheep station (ranch). Around 8 AM we saw many large vessels speeding out of Russell harbor. Apparently, there was a bill fish tournament starting up at that time. We saw the boats of the very wealthy speed past on a quest for sport fish like marlin. They are deep sea fish, we go after reef fish. With the rough seas, we soon saw a number of these boats make a retreat to port. We found a somewhat sheltered spot anchored and caught many fish, then did some drift fishing. We returned in time for a lovely lunch on the sunny patio. In the afternoon we went inland to do some nature walks in the Puketi Kauri Reserve (Park), where we first went on the Manginangina trail. A trail that goes into the forest to groves of majestic kauri trees. Kauri trees grow very straight and tall; they lose their lower branches, thus, there are no large knots in the wood. Also in this area are large black fern trees. These ferns look like palm trees and grow about 40 ft in height. After this trail, we took another trail into the forest where we heard many birds, but saw few.
For Evening meal, we went to the Exserviceman’s Club (Something like a combination of VFW and American Legion) in USA. A Good place to get a reasonable restaurant meal and lower priced beer on tap. As a member of the USA American Legion, I am granted guest privileges to NZ Exserviceman Clubs. So, the O’Callaghan’s are my guests in NZ.
Friday, Elaine & I took a long walk to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. When Elaine & I lived in NZ 1987-1992, we visited Waitangi. Then the grounds were free entry, but you had to pay to go into the buildings. NZ has gone more commercial since then and many of the things that used to be free of charge now charge admission. Later that day we went down to the beach in Pahia and had a swim and laid in the sun. Very relaxing last full day in Pahia
Saturday March 3rd, packed up and left Pahia and spent the day working our way back to Auckland. Every town likes to be famous for something, but this is a bit much. The town of Kawakawa is famous for its public toilets. A German artist by the name of Hunterwasser (at least I think that was his name) designed the town’s public toilets as a work of glass art and tile. We have a photo of this. They say be careful when doing your bodily functions, as you might end up in someone’s photo. People driving through take pictures as they drive by also. A bit unusual to say the least. After that we made a return entry to the waves at Waipu. Boogie boarding was great. Went took a coast road for about an hour and saw some very picturesque seascapes.
Thus our second week ended with a whole lot of new memories of a great week spent with our friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment