Firstly, let me dispel a pernicious theory put forward by a gentle unnamed blog follower (will everyone except K. Larson please take one step backwards): to wit the following, “You have time off already? Do you really have a job there?” Yes, I do, thank you very much! But I do also have five out of six weekends off, AND three weeks off in six months time. Ergo, I have much more leisure time than what I am accustomed to in the US, but I think it is a schedule more in tune with the majority of the civilized world (more like a school employee’s schedule, perhaps).
Having been hard at work for two months, it was time to take a week off. One of my goals is to see as much of this beautiful country as possible in my time allotted here. Being the dead of winter, it seemed like a good time to set out for the north part of the North Island, partly to escape icy conditions. We flew from Christchurch to Auckland Saturday the 26th, rented a car, and headed north. There were a few minor travel snags, a flight delay, rental car snafu, etc. Traversing Auckland is more of a hassle than it should be. You have to travel across poorly-marked surface roads through the heart of the town. I was glad I had time to adjust to driving on the left side, and that I insisted on an automatic transmission. I didn’t want the added challenge of negotiating busy, hilly city streets trying to remember to shift with my left hand. By this time it was dark and a bit rainy, but there was a full moon and we made it to our first stop at Whangarei, about 2 ½ hours from Auckland.
“W-h” in Maori words is pronounced like a soft “eff”, which makes Whangarei “fan-gar-AY”. With 45,000 residents, it is the largest town in the north, and on a Saturday night it was lively in pubs and restaurants. We ate in a stylish Middle Eastern restaurant, the
Nomad, and in addition to authentic
mezzes (appetizers) and kebabs, they feature hookahs with bowlfuls of tobacco (I think) at outside tables.
Sunday we were off to explore. First stop just out of town is 85’ high Whangarei Falls, called “the Paris Hilton of NZ waterfalls” by
the Lonely Planet- “not the most impressive but reputedly the most photographed”.
The scenic loop continues out to the Tutukaka coast. About 15 miles off-shore you can see the silhouette of the Poor Knights Islands, a marine reserve with some of the finest subtropical diving in the world. I didn’t have time for a trip now, but definitely would like to return to snorkel.
We continued northward. It is my goal while in NZ to see EVERYTHING in the country worth seeing. This may be unrealistic (but I will try!). I have been warned that it takes longer to get around here than it looks like on the map. I had thought I could get up to the northernmost point from Auckland in two days, but that is not going to happen, especially since I want to travel in the daytime for safety sake and to see what is there. And there is a lot to see, like the public bathroom at Kawakawa. Designed by Austrian-born artist and ecoarchitect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, it utilizes ceramics , recycled bottles, and plants and grass on the roof.
This is en route to the Bay of Islands, the birthplace of the nation of New Zealand. It is a very popular summer resort area, but is lovely to visit in the winter. There is a passenger ferry from Paiha to Russell, currently a small charming village with a colorful past. Originally called Kororareka from the Maori "how sweet is the penguin", after a wounded chief was nursed back to health by blue penguin broth. After the Europeans came, it earned the nickname "the hell hole of the Pacific" due to unsavory behavior of escaped Australian convicts, rowdy whalers, and drunken sailors. The British had to come in to clean it up, leading to the Treaty of Waitangi (more on that later). The first capitol was also nearby. The whole area is filled with history- oldest church,
oldest building, oldest commercial building, etc.(Historical Russell trivia: Charles Darwin visited in 1835 and described it as "full of the refuse of humanity" and donated money to build the church. Zane Gray came in the 1920's and promoted the deep-sea fishing.)
And we were treated to a fabulous double rainbow (not the ice cream).
We went back to Paiha for a romantic dinner on the bay and had a room with a view across the water to Russell.
(To be continued)
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