Photo: Harry and Judith from Vancouver, Canada, standing on the spiral staircase inside the trunk of a kauri tree
We had hoped to leave Whangarei for the Bay of Islands on Wednesday (January 17th) but we seemed to be stuck in a weather pattern with northerly winds and swell, which would not be comfortable for sailing northwest along the coast. In addition to being our only opportunity to take Tregoning to one of the best sailing and recreation areas of New Zealand, we were anxious to get to the Bay of Islands to meet up with our friends Judith and Harry from Vancouver. We had first met them on our way to Costa Rica, at the end of their global circumnavigation, and we have seen time a few times in Canada since then.
Judith and Harry were spending a couple of weeks in a bach on the north coast at Whatawhiwhi (pronounced, we think, as fhut-a-fi-fi) out of their two-month tour of Australia and New Zealand. Rather than risk getting to the Bay of Islands too late and missing them, we decided to make a road-trip in Baxter. We planned to leave on Thursday but that was postponed because the power in their house went out the night before and with a second day of rain forecast it did not look very promising. So on Friday morning we drove north.
Having got going fairly early, we realized that we had some time to spare before our meeting so we detoured into Kerikeri, a town on the northwest corner of the Bay of Islands. We randomly followed signs through the town center to the historic district and found ourselves at The Stone Store. Opened in 1836, this "robust Georgian warehouse" is still run as a shop (now mostly tourist and gift items) and is the oldest stone building in New Zealand.
The Stone Store
At the navigational head of the Kerikeri Inlet, the Kororipo Pa was an important gateway for the Maori iwi (tribes), from the highly productive Bay of Islands to the inland communities at Waimate and Taiamai further southwest. While Russell, a town deep within the Bay of Islands that we had visited by car with Martha, had a reputation in the early 1800s as a lawless whaling port, families from the British-based Church Missionary Society (CMS) made agreements with the Maori iwi to settle and established New Zealand's second CMS missionary station on the Kerikeri Inlet.
The Kemp House
Next to The Stone Store and a part of the mission station, is the beautiful wooden Kemp House which was built in 1822 and is the nation's oldest surviving European building. The surrounding area is particularly fertile, in fact, the name Kerikeri means "dig dig", and is still especially well-known for fruit production. Near the Kemp House we found the oldest exotic fruit tree in New Zealand, a pear tree planted by missionary Samuel Marsden in 1819 that is still producing fruit.
New Zealand's oldest exotic fruit tree, a pear tree planted in 1819
During her five-year global circumnavigation, HMS Beagle made only one stop in New Zealand, visiting the Kerikeri area in December 1835. So it was interesting to think that Charles Darwin would have seen, and possibly visited, the Kemp House. His impressions of New Zealand were not particularly favorable. He found it difficult to walk around in the thick native vegetation and stopping in only the one area he saw little of the nation's remarkable landscape and geology. He enjoyed a long walk inland to Waimate where he was impressed by the productivity of an agricultural station established by the missionaries but, on the whole, from reading "The Voyage of the Beagle" one suspects that he was more than ready to return to Britain after four years away. Both Darwin and Captain Fitzroy were clearly so smitten with the friendly and attractive Tahitian people that the Maoris seemed less friendly and more frightening, with their haka war-dances and facial tattoos. Also many of the Europeans settlers outside the mission station were a rough crowd.
We were glad to have seen these interesting building but regretted not having time to take tours of them. Nor did we have time to cross the river to visit Rewa's Village (a reconstruction of an 1800s Maori village) and Kororipo Pa and Kainga (village) which were once the headquarters of the great chief Hongi Hika. Some things to come back and visit another time.
Instead we pressed on northward to Mangonui (means "big shark"), a small town on the inlet at the southeastern corner of the huge Doubtless Bay. Mangonui has several waterfront building that date from when it was a center of the whaling industry between 1792 and 1850, and it was an important port for the export of flax and the wood and gum from kauri trees. We met Judith and Harry at the Mangonui Fish Shop were we sampled excellent fish and kumara chips.
Randall, Harry, and Judith on Maitai Beach
It was wonderful to be reunited with our Canadian cruising friends and after our tasty lunch and a bit of grocery shopping, we followed them on the road past the long Tokerau Beach, on the western side of Doubtless Bay, to the house at Whatuwhiwhi.
After the gentlemen had napped and Judith and I chatted, we drove to Maitai Beach where Randall and I body-surfed and Judith swam. The water temperature and waves were not bad but numerous small bits of seaweed were being churned-up in the water and these soon became rather uncomfortable as they accumulated in our swimsuits!
Judith and Harry on the trail to Maitai Beach
There were a few people at the end of the curved beach closest to the campground and parking but the far end was deserted so we enjoyed exploring the rock pools and the gnarly old pohutukawa trees hanging along the rocky shoreline there.
Randall admiring some of the gnarly, twisted pohutukawa trees clinging to the rocky shoreline
We also had to opportunity to observe a pair of New Zealand dotterels busily feeding along the shoreline.
A New Zealand dotterel in non-breeding plumage on Maitai Beach
As we walked back along the beach, we noted a few small "blueys" (a.k.a. bluebottles) stranded on the sand. These are the tiny blue Portuguese-Man-O-War-like jellyfish that we had run afoul of at Cabo Pulmo in Mexico, where I was badly stung on the hand (mistakenly thinking that I was virtuously grabbing a discarded fishing float and line). We commented to Judith and Harry about the painful sting of these wee beasties. A few days after we left, Judith told us that a bluey had caught around her foot and the painful welts had prevented her from walking much for a few days. Ouch!
Maitai Beach seen from the far end
On Saturday morning, Randall and I walked the short distance from the house to the north end of Tokerau Beach. We then all drove to the Ancient Kauri Kingdom, a gallery, shop, and cafe which Randall and I had visited with Martha. Judith and Harry seemed to enjoy seeing the kauri artefacts and especially the spiral staircase cut out of a giant kauri tree trunk.
An odd sight at Judith and Harry's bach: a California quail on a rotary washing line
After stopping at the farmers' and artisans' market in Kaitaia to buy some fruit and baked goods, we bade our Canadian friends goodbye and headed south on Highway 1 to Whangarei. On the way Randall rehearsed for his role as emcee at the evening's event at the Town Basin Marina, the naming and burgee-raising on the new party-barge. Local ordinances had recently deemed that alcohol could not be consumed on the walkway outside the marina office, where we used to have our social gatherings, so a party-barge had been tied to the end of a nearby dock for such events.
Sharron from the office and a good number of cruisers showed-up and the ceremony (which Randall had researched and adapted from various naval traditions of "laying the keel", "naming", and "commissioning" the vessel) seemed to be well received. A competition for the best name was won by "The Barge Inn" although there was some disagreement about whether the "The" should be included (it is not allowed according to naval ship-naming tradition).
Fellow cruisers help Randall to illustrate the "Laying the keel" part of the part-barge-naming ceremony
As part of the ceremony, some of the men were requested to act-out the "laying of the keel" while all of the women assembled to sing a rousing couple of verses of "What shall we do with the drunken sailor" (which seemed disturbingly appropriate for a party-barge). Sailors tend to be fond of traditions, even if they are bastardized versions from several sources, so the whole process seemed to be much appreciated.
Sue raises the yellow, blue, green, and purple burgee on the party-barge
Of course, the pot-luck food and numerous bottles of bubbly wine helped to create a fun evening, the organized part of which was brought to a satisfactory conclusion when the barge's colorful burgee, made by Sue on SV Serengeti, for the "Royal Town Basin Yacht Club" was raised to great acclaim. Long may "The Barge Inn" stay afloat and serve as the marina's party location. Maybe only cruisers could make the naming of a boat that is unlikely to go anywhere an excuse for a party...