24th January 2019 - Bay of Islands

No middle of the night cups of tea, just one soon after 6, courtesy of Geoff who had pinged awake. He can be forgiven for the sight of the sun rising over the bay!

Today was a day for culture and learning, so a walk up to Waitangi, just a km or so up the road from here, to learn about the history of New Zealand and the signing of the treaty here between various Maori tribes and the British. It does not paint us in a particularly good light, again, but following an apology by the Queen back in the 1970’s, most Maori people seem to have forgiven us for the wrongs we committed. The visitors centre is excellent, with a museum, a ceremonial war canoe, the ex governors house, good guides and at the end a Maori ceremony at the Carved Meeting House.

It has to be said that the Maori warriors would have been terrifying! However these ones were really proud of their traditions and keen to ensure that they imparted as much information to us as possible.

We then walked on to Haruru falls, a 5km walk through the kind of forest that would once have covered all of New Zealand. And yet not an animal, insect or reptile that would do us any harm. It felt strange walking on a boarded walkway through mangrove swamps not to be able to see caimen, alligators etc. All we could hear were crickets and birds. The area is protected as the Kiwi lives here, although as it’s nocturnal we didn’t get a chance to see one. They have been decimated by such things as dogs and cats and so are now protected.

Having reached the falls we walked back into Paihia along the road. Not a particularly pleasant route but it did give you time to look at the house and gardens as we walked past!

The weather has been hot and sunny again, although there was a rogue shower this afternoon soon after we got back. We have been glad of cloud at times as the sun is so powerful. Happily this did not stop Geoff from having his swim again today, although the water was definitely colder!