Waipoua Kauri Forrest, Waimamaku, Waiwera, Paparoa
Saturday February 18, day 20 was a long day. We drove 313 km or 194 miles to Bay of Islands Holiday Park in Paihia.
There was a lot of cyclone damage as we continued north. We had to take a detour because a large portion of SR 1, (Kauri Coast Highway) is closed here. We are driving on the Hibiscus Highway. Our first stop of the day was the Matamatea Kauri Museum in Dargaville. It had been closed since the cyclone and first opened again today. We were lucky as this was the day we had planned to visit.
The museum was really neat, telling us a lot about this large old trees and how they were harvested. We also saw a lot of furniture made from the Kauri. The best parts are the stump and where branches spread out from the main trunk. Because of all of the weight and pressure, the wood had beautiful patterns.
We continued driving and came to a stop at Nelson’s Wood and Craft Center to see more carved Kauri items. The tree Mr Nelson uses was buried by a tsunami 3800 years ago. He dug it out of the swamp himself and let it dry for 3 years before starting to carve from it. He also uses just the stump and has beautiful pieces. He was interesting to talk to as he showed us how he makes his items, mostly different sizes and shapes of bowls. I would have loved a piece but they cost thousands of dollars.
We wanted to see Tane Mahuta, a 2,000 year old Kauri, called “Lord of the Forest”. Unfortunately, the path to this tree was closed due to unsettled ground caused by Gabrielle. I have included a web picture of this tree.
We continued driving along the coast. There are some beautiful beaches but many of them were closed due to…the cyclone of course. We were able to walk along a couple and found a PERFECT puau shell to add to our shell collection.
Lunch was a picnic beside a very dirty river, muddy from the cyclone.
We stopped for a beer at the Beer and Marlin Restaurant in the Oponioni Hotel in Oponioni, overlooking the ocean. We chatted with a bicyclist for a while. He mentioned all of the bikes we were seeing and noted they were going in the opposite direction as we were. That made us happy because did not have to worry about getting around them on narrow curvy roads. He was from Auckland and was on a bike trip, distance not time, around the north island. He told us that New Zealand gets very few cyclones but Gabrielle was the third since Christmas!
Waitangi, Bay of Islands, Russell, Paihia
Sunday February 19 was day 21. We left early to drive the short distance to Bay of Islands where we had a tour of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. We learned about the “settling” of New Zealand by the British in 1840. As often happened, there were two versions of this treaty. The British version, the Queen had all rights to their land. The Maori version gave the Queen nominal control but the chiefs retained authority over everything they held precious, including their language. A carving at the visitor center shows the British signer holding crossed fingers behind his back.
Queen Elizabeth visited New Zealand in 1953 and acknowledged errors in the treaty but did nothing to correct it, causing mixed feelings.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana attended the the grand opening of the treaty center in 1983.
One legend of the Maori was a captive wife of a chief, Te Whare Runanga. Her husband was going to attack her homeland. She asked him not to. He agreed not to kill anyone who had passed between her legs, meaning her children. She fooled him by spreading her legs over the exit and all who passed went under her legs. The chief honored his promise and did not kill her family.
We saw the waka or war canoe that met the British people when they arrived in New Zealand. It is said anyone who touch their forehead to the forehead of the figurehead will have good luck.
We saw the governor’s house and the original New Zealand flag. The view from the house is magnificent.
Later, we were treated to another Maori ceremony where we were informed about the reasons for their dances, which was to practice and improve their weapons skills.
We were also told the large tongue hanging out was to show defiance. However, I later learned that it means “you look so tasty”. The last cannibalism from the Maori was a “French dish” in 1923.
After the tour, Dave and I drove to Bay of Islands where we had our weekly Bloody Mary at Zane Grey’s. Zane Grey was an American novelist who spent a lot of time in this part of New Zealand.
Later, we took a ferry across the bay to Russell, the first capitol of New Zealand. It lost its status because the people were too loose and corrupt. The water on the Russell side was so much cleaner than at Bay of Islands, due to Gabrielle. We had been told Russell was a quaint little town worth visiting. Dave and I had a small lunch of prawns and wandered the 3 blocks of the town but were not overly impressed so we went back to Bay of Islands. Each direction, we were able to get on the ferry shortly before it departed.
We did attempt to walk on the beach at Russell. It was rocky instead of sandy and very hot!
Mangawhai, Paihia, Te Hana, Waipu, Auckland
Monday February 20, day 22
We drove 272 km today, to the JUCY terminal in Auckland. What a day! We were all supposed to arrive at JUCY by 3 PM to turn in our rigs. However…
We made one small suggested stop at Kauri Clock in Whangerei. It was difficult to find on a small commercial street. When we got there, Bob and Sandy, Kirk, Phyllus and Reagan were there. No one else from the group stopped. There were more Kauri items, most of them clocks. I would have loved one but they were so expensive and again, really don’t fit our”reduced items” lifestyle.
Soon, we had to take the detour around Route 1, as we had when driving north to Bay of Islands. This was not marked very well. A sign said “detour ahead” so we kept going, waiting for the detour signs. Instead, we got to a road block with a policeman sitting there, telling us to turn around. So, back we went to the sign telling us the detour was ahead. We turned on to a 2 lane road. This was the detour and a sign said it was not for big rigs. We were on Coast Cove Road.
Eventually, we started seeing some of our rigs and they kept indicating we should turn around. That seemed crazy because there were no other roads to Auckland. We kept going and came upon stopped traffic. There were not too many vehicles ahead of us but immediately in front of us was an old Thunderbird, with the steering wheel on the left, like American car. We assumed there was some road work or something.
As we started driving, it became obvious there was an “incident”. A 3 part tanker truck coming in the opposite direction had not made a hairpin curve. He had 4 wheels in the middle of his rig hanging over the edge. Another large truck had tried to pass him and got hung up on the hillside. We were allowed to pass through and there were many miles of cars and trucks backed up. Many of them were more big rigs, not allowed on this detour.
It was a long day of driving and I was a little nervous that we would not get to JUCY on time. Eventually, we stopped in a small town cafe for lunch. We shared a pulled pork sandwich, sitting at one of their outdoor tables. The sandwich was HUGE. We were glad we had chosen to split one, rather than order our own. While eating, we kept watching for more of our rigs and were concerned that we did not see any. We thought we were in the back of the pack, still concerned about not reaching Auckland by 3. Traffic in Auckland was just as bad going south as it had been going north.
We finally go to JUCY at 5 minutes before 3. We were the first to arrive! We turned in our rig and paid a vehicle road tax that came to aver $300 NZ dollars. Then, we waited. It was over an hour before Emmet and Norraine arrived. It was almost another hour before the rest arrived.
The rest had all turned around because someone in a fuel station had mentioned the truck incident. They all backtracked many miles to the “big rig” detour. We started overhearing people being charged $30 for the fuel tax. At first we thought one of them was a mistake but by the third one, we were concerned we had been overcharged. Dave went to talk to the manager to find out what was going on and she promised to look into things. Much later after she had not gotten back to us, Dave went up again. She explained we had been charged correctly and there was a mistake for everyone else.
Meanwhile, Keith and Joan arrived. Keith talked to the manager because the center was already open later than it should have been but we were still short two rigs. They also discussed the mess with the tax. Keith finally paid the tax for everyone using the Fantasy credit card. We were supposed to get refunded what we had paid. As of March 27, we still do not have our refund. Meanwhile, the bus driver waiting to take us to the hotel was over on hours and anxious to get moving. So, we all hopped on the bus. Keith waited at JUCY, now closed, for the last two couples ask and they took a taxi to the hotel.
Whew! What a day. We were all happy to check into Skycity Hotel.
Auckland, Hauraki Gulf
Tuesday February 21, day 23 was spent in Auckland. After breakfast at the hotel, we got on a bus for a city tour. We were dropped off at the wharf before 10. We were taking a harbor cruise on the Pride of Auckland.
After the cruise, we were on our own for a couple of hours for lunch and shopping. We ate at “Holey Moley” because that is one of my favorite sayings.
Later, we returned to the bus to continue our city tour, which included a stop at the Auckland War Memorial. Auckland is known for some of the following: City of Sails, Mount Eden, 52 volcanoes, hake and the buoy signals.
Everyone has or wants a sailboat. none of the 52 volcanoes are active. Nothing in the city can be higher than Mount Eden except the Sky Tower. The buoys are opposite (red one way; green the other) from the US. Actually, the US s backwards. We changed our system during WWII to confuse the Japanese.
When the harbor bridge was built, it was only 2 lanes in each direction. It soon became obvious that they needed more lanes. A Japanese firm was hired because they had the best solution, adding more lanes. These have been nick named “Nipon Clipons”.
The day ended with a dinner at the Orbit Restaurant, a revolving restaurant on top of the Skycity Tower.
Wednesday February 22, day 24
We got up at 3:15 to leave our hotel at 3:45. The hotel had packed a breakfast for each of us but there was so much food and beverages (water, juice, yogurt, ham sandwich, granola bar, apple, orange) so I did not take one. Dave and I shared. We were on our way to the airport to board a plane for Brisbane, leaving New Zealand behind.