BLOG NUMBER 2 TUESDAY JANUARY 23

Spent 2 days camping at Whangarei (pronounced fan ga ray). Drove from Whangaparaoa to a bee farm at Warkworth ( a veritable hive of activity) and bought some local honey. Hives have a glass wall to watch the bees; as Laugh-Ins Artie Johnson would say… VERY INTERESTING! How many are old enough to remember Laugh in? Some bees actually vibrate and then go into a figure of 8 dance to communicate to the other bees where to find nectar. We bought a jar of Pohutukawa honey from the NZ Christmas tree, green and red. The Asians buy a lot of NZ manuka honey known for its medicinal properties and only available from New Zealand; it is said there is about 4 times the total NZ manuka honey production sold in stores throughout the Asia marketed as manuka honey …Hmmm!

 

 Visited an historic village called Puhoi; Bohemians came to the area in the 1870s  and would have perished if the Maoris  had not provided them with food and shelter the first winter. They established an entire village which is now a day run/ weekend retreat for biker gangs from Auckland.

I am accompanied by three ladies; Heather of course…,

Brunhilde (our GPS lady) who has had some aging, memory lapses which has created some confusion of late. Her pronunciation of the New Zealand names using a computer-generated British accent sometimes sounds like she is drunk or speaking with marbles in her mouth. Auckland sounds like Auschland.

… and good old Nellie; old Nell is our 2002 Toyota camper van with 450,000+ km on the odometer and somewhat battered and worse for the wear. She is top heavy, having resisted the gravity effects of aging; well equipped with “oh-shit” handles for Heather to hold onto on the multitudinous curves in the highway causing her top heavy structure to sway. Very susceptible to cross winds plus she is incredibly underpowered. We are down in first gear on some of the mountainous grades. To date, I haven’t been able to coax her above 95 km.

Old Nell in the campground in Ahipara.

Spent some time in Paihia and Russel (the Hell Hole of the Pacific 100 odd years ago).

Ferry over to Russel.


Hanging around Russel.
Paihia is near Waitangi where the Waitangi Treaty was signed in 1840. Feb 6 is Waitangi Day and the Federal politicians show up and give speeches while the Maoris show up, dish out catcalls and throw eggs. Much like Question Period (no answer period) in the House of Commons. Four Maori chiefs cut down the Union Jack flagpoles then the cagey Brits installed metal ones knowing the Maoris didn’t have cutting torches.

Campgrounds here are EXCELLENT… fully equipped kitchen fridges, stoves freezers and stainless steel wash-up facilities. Great bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities. They also have ATCO like trailers for rent (real cheap). We have had meals with Swedes, Germans, and Dutch couples travelling NZ by camper van. Many young couples on work experience holidays as well, mostly Germans, Slovenes, and Eastern Europeans working and travelling the world. Their governments sponsor them to get work experience abroad.  Ahipara campground below.

Trip to cape Reigna is thru cattle and sheep stations; each about 30,000 acres. The Kauri forests were destroyed about 150 years ago as Croatians from the Dalmatian coast settled there and started bleeding the Kauri trees for the sap (lac) which they exported to Russia to be used as varnish. The trees died and the dead trees were covered up by wind erosion. Now the farmers are digging out the trees to be used in wood carving and exotic furniture manufacture. The wood carving of two old guys shows the one on the right for $75,000 while the guy on the right can be had for a bottle of wine (some days).

The Japanese have a 99 year lease to log the pine forests and export them to China; so much for self determination for the kiwis. Anyway... the All Blacks will kick the %$#@ out of them on the rugby field.

Cape Reigna is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. It is a spiritual place for the Maori. The bodies (physically) are delivered to Ahipari (where we are camped at the south end of 90 miles beach) to a Madai (similar to an Irish wake… without the fisticuffs), the departed spirit is delivered northward spiritually along the 90 mile beach to the Cape where they pass into the afterlife. Warning! The next paragraph contains an explicit picture for adults only, if you are under the age of 18, skip to the end. The Tasman Sea is male and the Pacific Ocean is female and the juncture is seminal in nature to create new life. Let your imagination run wild in the picture.  Just kidding!








Cape reigna

 

After a great steak and sausage lunch, we sand boarded down the 100 ft high dunes and got sand in places I didn’t know I had.







Then drove down the 90 miles beach on the sand in a big bus at 80 kph. For safety reasons, 3 busses, 2 of which were 4x4s to pull out our larger bus if we got stuck.

n the west coast tomorrow.

Having a blast Heather and Lynn.