Northland

So, having thought I would have no more internet for 10 days, we have ended up camping in a backpackers tonight as the weather is forecast to be not very appropriate for an exposed wilderness camp. Currently, the breeze is a little chilly, but the sky is a clear pale blue that is gradually dissolving into black as the last of the twilight fades away…

The picture would be more picturesque if we weren’t in Rotorua (or ‘Roto-Vegas’ as the locals dubb it), but more on that later. My first three days off travelling New Zealand propoerly were spent right up north, above Auckland on the map. We left Auckalnd early on the 28th Feb, and drove steadily north, stopping at a windswept beach for lunch, until we reached Paihia and the Bay of Islands. The weather was gorgeous on the first day and not too bad on the second, although it could have been better – certainly this week has not been the best in the world, and there are more photos of me in a rainjacket than a bikini! But the rain held off on the 29th, which was lucky as I spent the day sailing the Bay of Islands. We left Paihia in the morning and sailed out into the bay, which has a total of 144 islands but only 8 main ones. We spent the first part of the trip staring around trying to guess where the dolphins would next emerge from, and then every so often remembering the camera in a frantic fumble to try and catch them before they disappeared again. They swam with us for a good half an hour though, which was incredible – so unafraid they would just pop up beside the boat, and often we saw them frolicking along merrily just inches in front of the prow of other boats.

Anyway, we continued our merry way through the Bay of Islands, passing the cove where Captain Cook in 1769 was the first European to set foot ashore in Aoteoroa (Abel Tasman came earlier, but only sailed past without landing). We eventually pulled into one of the islands to eat lunch, and spent a couple of hours there kayaking, snorkelling, and climbing up a hill to get the view from the top (and yes, the climb was the period that the sun chose to come out, and believe me, the sun can change the temperature by a good 15-20C out here. You burn in minutes if you’re not careful, and even if you are, you’re still likely to get caught out at some point. Sailing back was more interesting – the sun had decidedly disappeared by that point, the wind had equally decidedly picked up, and we were sailing along on a rather large angle – at times Shane, who was ‘lying’ on the deck, was nearly vertical as the boat tilted in the wind.

In the evening of the 29th I went to see a ‘culture show’ which was actually an incredible experience and well worth the money spent on it. It was acted entirely by a Maori cast, and told the story of their people from the time Kupe first sailed his waka (canoe) to Aoteoroa to the present day. The performance also occured in the Marae in the grounds of the Waitangi Treaty House, which is where the Waitangi Treaty was signed. For anyone who is unaware of New Zealand history, the signing of the Waitangi Treaty is the most significant moment in NZ history – akin to the Magna Carta or the Glorious Revolution in British history. It signified the moment when the British and the Maori agreed to live together in the same land and stipulated the terms of that agreement. Unfortunately (and, I believe, due to genuine mistakes in translation and the connotations of words in Maori rather than any deliberate underhand intentions, although I could be wrong), the English and Maori versions were substantially different in that the British believed they had gained sovereignty over Maori lands, and the Maori believed they had granted the British governorship but retained sovereignty. The Treaty of Waitangi therefore laid the framework for all the acrimonious Maori-Pakeha (European) relations ever since. So to have the Maori tell their history in the same spot was really quite impressive.

On the 1st march we head gradually southwards again, crossing to Opononi on the weatern side of Northland to go sandboarding, which despite the weather was enormous fun. The basic isea is very, well, basic – you lie on a body (think bodyboard for surfing) and slide down a sand dune. Thanks to the rather wet and windy weather, and the steepness of this particular dune, you not only shot down it at very high speeds (it was a good idea to keep your mouth shut or you would be eating sand for the next wee while) but carried on over the flat beach and bottom and went skimming stright out to sea. Catch the waves at the right point and it was possible to bounce over the top of them so that you could shoot a good 10-15 metres out. We also stopped at Kauri tree reserve to see Tane Mahuta, the oldest tree in New Zealand, which is thought to be about 2000 years old, so born about the same time as Christ walked the earth – which is very interesting, given in Maori legend Tane was the son of the Father Sky and Mother Earth (apologies to any Maori if I have the names wrong) and when he forced his way out he forced them apart, therefore bringing into being the world as we know it.

We then camped that night at Orewa, and had a relaxed evening before continuing back to Auckland (briefly!) the next day….