Croaky but still standing.

Day 15 NZ Mon April 18

Woke up sounding like Paul Robeson. Must have caught Diane’s laryngitis. Four of us are coughing now. And the forecast is for wind and rain... And I still  have the cracked jade ring to deal with. Ugh! We're off to see the Kauris today. Hope my mood improves.

First stop is to photograph 800 year old Kauri trees. They are not the largest trees in the world, redwoods have that distinction, but for timber content they have no peer. The trees are densely packed, feel hard like concrete. Kauri timber was once NZ’s major export and early settlers nearly stripped NZ bare of them but now they are protected. 

Try hugging this!

(Just heard it is snowing in Milford Sound today. How lucky were we to be there on a sunny day!)

Chris our coach driver keeps pointing out ‘I-sites.’ Have only just realised he means Information Centres. Clever name I think. A visit to one of them immediately improves my mood. At a coffee stop in a place called Warkworth I visit the local I-site and notice they carry jewellery by Ariki, same make as my jade ring. The upshot of it is I now have the name and number of someone to call about replacing it, yipee! Or if you’re a kiwi, ‘yupee!’

Totally love the Kauri Museum at Matakohe, can’t help thinking how much Dad would have loved seeing the machinery they used to cut and mill the timber. Took lots of pics to send him plus bought the museum book about it all. Was also fascinated to hear about the gum from Kauri trees. It is a resin like amber and there are heaps of examples of them in glass cases. 

Kauri furniture. 

Kauri gum.  

Go through Whangarei (pronounced Fanga ray) as Maori ‘whs’ are pronounced ‘f”. It is a deep water port suitable for carrying cargo in and out, how all those Kauri logs were transported back in the day. It is 160kms from Auckland, and is the largest urban centre in the Northland Region.

Blow into Paihia in the Bay of Islands, worried about the boat trip tomorrow, whether we’ll be able to get through the hole in the rock and whether we’ll be seasick or not.

Before heading for our rooms we visit the site where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.What impressed me most (apart from the handsome Maori guide) was Ngatokimatawhaorua, the 35 metre long war canoe (waka). It is one of the largest ceremonial war canoes in the world with a hull carved from two massive Kauri trees, felled in the Puketi Forest in Northland. (Imagine the weight!) It is launched each year (Feb 6) for the ceremonial commemoration of the signing of the Treaty. What a sight that would be!

Ngatokimatawhaorua.

On a more mundane note, I contacted the Ariki jewellery consultant, will pick up a replacement in Auckland all being well.

During Happy Hour I was served by a barman from Skegness.He loves it in the Bay of Islands and will never go back to the UK. He introduced me to a barmaid from Cleethorpes, a bit of a Lincolnshire invasion!