Having worked a total of 16 days we decided it was time to hit the road again! With the big order finished in work things were quieter again so we saw the opportunity to get away before any follow up orders come in.
The main area that we hadn’t already seen in New Zealand was Northland, although we had tried to go up there twice, but both times stopped in Matapouri and didn’t make it any further! This time we put our heads down and, with a quick stop to stock up our food supplies in Whangarei, we made it as far as Paihia in the Bay of Islands where we stayed for a couple of nights, just down the road from Haruru Falls, quite a nice looking waterfall, with a few nasty placed rocks requiring a careful line through it. We didn’t have any boats with us though.
The next day we walked through the Waitangi National Reserve adjoining Paihia, where the Treaty House stands, the location of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by the representatives of Queen Victoria’s government and local Maori chiefs in 1840. The treaty then toured the country and was signed by other Maori chiefs, though many in the central North Island didn’t greet it warmly. It seems that now most of the difficulty between the Pakeha (Europeans) and Maoris are in that area still, with many claims of land being taken from the tribes without fair payment. Also in the Reserve is the Whare Runanga (meeting house) and a 35m long war canoe both of which were built for the centenary celebrations of the signing of the Treaty.
That afternoon we took a boat tour around the Bay of Islands going out to the Hole in the Rock and seeing some of the many islands in the bay along the way. We also encountered some dolphins on our way out. It’s a beautiful area, though rather busy with tourists a lot of the time.
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