Greetings! Welcome to Week 7 - what I'm fondly recalling as my Maori cultural immersion week. It maybe just me, I've noticed the Maori presence appears to be much more pronounced on the North Island. Besides seeing more Maori people, I've also learned about the Maori flags flying at residences, and there is a Maori Queen. Perhaps it's just more so on the north part of this Island. I shall see in the weeks ahead.
The week started in One Tree Point and ended with me finding motel space in Dargaville near the west coast. This was another week of limited driving. For perspective on physical distances, the two coasts are only about one hour drive distance from each other from where I'm currently at.
Definitively a significantly different vibe in the northern part of the North Island from the South Island. It's busier in all ways. Fewer open stretches of highway, more traffic on the main highways, more of most everything. Again, this degree of being busy is relative given there is only about 4 million people living on the North Island with about 30% in Auckland. There is also a stronger contrast between the east and west coast inhabitants. In very general terms, the west coasters seem more laid back. All the east coast I've met so far have been laid back so generalizations can be porous. All good fun in learning about the similarities and differences - creates an enriching experience.
Travel Maps
Tracking this past week's travel: North Island Travel - As of December 21, 2024. Please note my North Island travels appear in the December 1 - December 21 map link below.
November 1 - November 30
December 1 - December 21
Travel Administration
I drew a blank on travel tips or advice to share as I went to publish this week's blog. Will readjust my thinking cap for next week. Stay tuned.
Sunday's Divine Dining
I was blessed with two extraordinary meals on Sunday. The first meal was a shared lunch at the
Encounter Church I had mentioned in last week's blog. Janet and her friends attend/are active supporters and in Deidre's case - she along with her husband Clint provide the spiritual guidance. I met Clint at the lunch.
There is pure magic when you have a group of people together who share common interests and beliefs as the starting point. Now, add in the Christmas spirit along with the shared lunch. Voila - you have pure magic in the sense of community.
Lots of amazing food to choose from - all very delicious! Next stop - where to sit? My new friends were busy with supporting the lunch so I found an open chair at the end of a table across from a very interesting couple - Grant and Sherice. Grant, now 58, had retired at 46. Engaging and interesting convo ensued. His father was a high school history teacher and a lay minister - a man of words. Grant was a more practical person - man of action. I'm paraphrasing. Grant started out in carpentry, purchased residences to fix them up to rent. When the government made it difficult in the residential market, Grant moved their investments to commercial property where it is now producing an annuity to support their lifestyle. He has been to Canada skiing at Whistler and Panorama. His skiing days are behind him given back injuries sustained as a volunteer fireman.
Grant asked what my objective(s) were in life. Simple answer - make it to tomorrow. Apparently there is a biblical reference for this philosophy. He was also interested in knowing my most memorable project which I find impossible to answer. I defaulted my answer to what I find most gratifying across projects - the people I meet, work in support of and develop friendships with. Without people the work disappears. He was also curious about my religious views - we were in a church after all. I view myself as a spiritual person, indifferent to any specific religion, who diligently commits himself to finding ways to make the world a better place for the people I meet.
Elizabeth and Barrie hosted my second grand meal of the day. Simply amazing how creative two people can be with a microwave. We had a delicious soup they created along with brioche with cheese. I brought chocolates to infuse the Christmas spirit. Well, any reason is a good reason for having chocolate. We always blessed to have free ranging conversations when we get together. We also discussed traveling to Cape Reinga as I was planning to make the trip within the next few days. I will have more to share about Cape Reinga with the newlyweds when we meet up for Christmas.
And so ends another best day ever! Deepest gratitude to the universe for the blessings I received on this Sunday!
One Tree Point to Paihia
As I discovered from Janet on Ruakākā Beach, I was less than two hours away from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, just outside Paihia, where the English and Maori had signed a treaty back in the 1800's. Paihia is also home to the multiple Bay of Islands cruises, ferry ride to Russell and Cape Reinga bus tours. I opted out of the Bay of Island cruise given my time on the water in Milford Sound and Queen Charlotte Sound. A highlight for the 4.5 hour cruise is when the boat cruises on the sea through an open arch.
Paihia
I signed up for the full Maori experience at the Treaty Grounds including cultural performance, guided tour in the afternoon plus Hāngī along with a second cultural performance the same evening. Hāngī is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, called an umu (Wikipedia). I believe I had a cultural overdose. The museum is an extraordinary building with exhibits well organized and presented. So easy to follow and digest if that is what you are looking for. The grounds are equally beautiful overlooking the Bays of Islands especially given the sunny summer day we had.
All felt commercially focused. My humble opinion - worth seeing however is seriously overpriced ($175).
Paihia to Ahipara
Three activities on my radar for the two nights in Ahipara - being on the beach, Cape Reinga bus tour and a beach horse trek.
I was stymied by a power failure in my ice cream tasting quest at the Cable Bay Store in Coopers Beach. I had read Google reviews about the ice cream so the plan was to make an ice cream purchase and enjoy the beach. I ended up being a healthier person for enjoying the beautiful beach without an ice cream.
Quick stop at this village to confirm the pickup location for the tour bus I was taking to Cape Reinga the next day. I was checking because the cafe I was given as the pickup point was permanently closed as of six months ago. The kind folks at the Riverside Cafe pointed to the roadside location where the bus was expected to stop. As I was returning to my car, I caught sight of a roadside bakery hosted by the nicest couple ever. I had an amazing piece of cake with a pistachio and lime topping. The following day I picked up a gourmet Japanese curry steak pie that was to die for. The owners happen to be Japanese.
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| Little piece of heaven on earth |
In retrospect, I think the real advantage the bus tour offered was Barrie, the driver, and the combo of driving on the beach/sand boarding. Barrie was an extraordinary individual who also happened to be Maori. I believe he provided, through his commentary, more insights into the Maori people and culture than my Treaty Grounds experience. The day with Barrie made me think about the following Maya Angelou quote:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
He casted his passengers as a team, following up with different people throughout the trip to ensure everything was ok. Sandboarding lessons were included along with his enthused encouragement and high fives after swooshing down the sand dune.
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I slid down the dunes in the background on the
board I'm holding in this photo |
Now that I've traveled to Cape Reinga, I can now add to my growing checklist of remote destinations I've visited. Cape Reinga is New Zealand's northern most point accessible by road.
BTW - Wellington is on my to-do list as it is the southern most country capital in the world. I've been to the northern most capital, Reykjavik Iceland, in August 2024. It's limitless on the lists of things to do you can create for yourself. Loads of travel marketing is focused on helping all of us develop these lists.
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| On the open road - beach style |
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Sandboarding the dunes
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| Our tour bus - that's Barrie at the rear of bus |
The horse trek on the beach that never was. I was unsuccessful in scheduling a horse trek in spite of phoning the horse trek company and leaving a message. I did get a text asking me to submit a request for what I was looking for. My request went unanswered. In fact, of the five requests I've made to horse trekkers so far during this trip, I've only had success in one instance. Most email requests have gone unanswered. I attribute the lack of response (interest?) to the fact I am but one rider in a business that needs multiple riders for a trek. There is also the possibility of issues with the company's websites.
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| Beautiful horses - not meant to be! |
Ahipara to Dargaville
Today's driving time was about 2.5 hours plus the time for the ferry crossing which added an hour because I arrived just after the ferry had departed the Narrows Wharf. Something new and memorable. Many communities in the Northland region, south of the Waipoua Kauri Forest, have wild purple and white flowers blooming along the road as you enter the community. Entering Dargaville from the north was incredibly memorable with the number of these flowers along the roadside and their fragrance! I took the photo below on a roadside where it was safe to do so.
This town is the first time that I had an uncomfortable vibe in New Zealand. Unsure what specifically triggered the sensation. Might have been the angry guy sitting outside the coffee shop, dropping f-bombs, who had missed bathing for some time. Perhaps it was the bag of clothing in the public washroom. Maybe it was the less than pristine surroundings that I been spoiled by in every other place I visited. Drank my coffee and was on my way. Even the effort in making the flat white coffee seemed to be missing (see photo below)! Overall, I think my brief time in Rawene triggered memories of the less pleasant side of the small town where I grew up in northern Alberta.
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My single photo from Rawene
Least imaginative flat white design to date! |
Hokianga iSite Visitor Information Centre
The universe continues to shine its benevolent light upon my travels. My entire itinerary is now just traveling from one accommodation to the next without any specific stops planned. This is where Deb at the iSite centre enters the picture to write on my blank travel slate. She was full of ideas and supporting maps. The big news she shared was that access to the Kauri Walks (where Te Matua Ngahere was found) and Tane Mahuta was to reopen on Saturday after being closed for months. More info on these two destinations is below. She was underwhelmed with my plans to stay in Dargaville (nothing to do in her mind); whereas she was positive about my plans to stay at the Old Post Office B&B in Paparoa.
After leaving the iSite location, I wandered across the carpark to the Toi Box - a pop up shop featuring Maori and Pacific handmade crafts. I had a wonderful convo with Lawrence and Simi, the couple who created everything in the shop. They had a daughter just returning from Toronto after living and working in the area for the last two years. She was enthralled with Canada. I also had the chance to add their location in Google Maps so I could leave a review with the hope of increasing traffice to their shop by creating their virtual presence.
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| Please meet Lawrence |
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Please meet Simi with a customer.
The woman on the left was going to surprise her mother
by buying a wall clock her mother had just seen. |
I also took a photo of where the bay opens to the Tasman Sea.
After having a seafood pie (best ever!) for an early lunch, I was off backtracking to visit the Kauri Forest - home to several very old and large Kauri trees. Tane Mahuta is about 2500 years old or, as the conservation officer phrased it, started growing about 500 years before Jesus Christ was born. Hard to fathom what it would be like for a tree to be growing for the last 2500 years. What are the chances a tree would survive for this long? Mind boggling!
Special thanks to the conservation officer who happened to be hanging out by the tree. He mentioned that there was an older tree on the Kauri Walk just up the road that he thought was worth seeing. He also mentioned there was 47 varieties of fern to see on this walk.
But wait. There's a tree that is even older. Te Matua Ngahere is between 3500 - 3800 years old. While this tree is somewhat shorter than Tane Mahuta, the lack of height is made up through its girth - its trunk is about 30% larger. Try to imagine how the world has changed over this tree's lifetime. Mind boggling plus!
I ran into the same conservation guy as I was leaving the forest to thank him for his suggestion to see this tree. When I mentioned about his fern comment, he confessed that he might recognize maybe four varieties at best. He explained that differentiating between varieties takes a skilled person - like being able to assess variations in the stem.
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Visitors are asked to clean their shoes when
entering and exiting the forest to protect the trees. |
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| Info about the tree |
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| Lower half of tree |
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| Upper half of tree |
Travel Administration
Stay tuned next week.
Next Week
I'm back to One Tree Point on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas with Elizabeth and Barrie after a two night stay at a B&B in Paparoa. I'm thinking of heading to the west coast south of Auckland on December 26. The general idea is to work my way south to Wellington on the west coast, then zig zag my way back up island towards Auckland.
Looking 'longer term' - I have two dates I'm currently working with in my planning. January 16 is when I need to return my rental car in Auckland. I'm unable to extend my rental period for the car I currently have without a significant cost. It's cheaper to start a new rental contract as of January 16. January 27 is when I fly to Perth from Auckland International.
Merry Christmas! 🎄🎅🤶
I also took a photo of where the bay opens to the Tasman Sea. 
Special thanks to the conservation officer who happened to be hanging out by the tree. He mentioned that there was an older tree on the Kauri Walk just up the road that he thought was worth seeing. He also mentioned there was 47 varieties of fern to see on this walk.
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