Advertisement
Published: February 23rd 2010
Edit Blog Post
It's Someone's Birthday
But she wouldn't let me say anything. The Rock
The next day finds our travellers in the Bay of Islands where they're due to spend the next 24 hours on an overnight boat tour on a converted ferry known as The Rock - this has been recommended by Stewart and Bernie who they met on their overlanding in Africa.
The journey out into the Bay begins by paying-out a 'convict duck' behind The Rock as they mosey along. Free drink to whoever can pop off a couple of rounds from the air rifle into the unfortunate plastic fella. As night descends they weigh anchor for the night and have a go at trying to catch some snapper - Tim manages to catch one but he's not quite up to size yet and so gets chucked back.
Next up before dinner is a spot of night-time sea kayaking. Some more kayaking is booked for later in the trip - although Tim knows how to row a boat this is bit of a test drive for Sue (as Sue admits she was pretty much a passenger in the tandem kayak in Namibia!). Far enough away from the lights of The Rock the bioluminescense magically becomes visible every
time a paddle cuts through to the water and it's quite something as they all pootle along in the dark. Sue is finding these particular type of kayaks much easier to handle.
The strange knock-on consequence of the seawater lighting up when disturbed is revealed that night when going to the loo - the toilet is obviously run off seawater. Flushing in the dark causes the pan to glow quite brightly with green light!
The slightly overcast weather clears to reveal the next morning a clear and beautiful day, which is just as well because it's Sue's birthday! The first day's activity is snorkelling, which neither Tim nor Sue are massive fans of it but they both give it a go in an effort to try and bring back some sea urchins, supposedly for lunch. It's bit of a shock in the cold going in at first but after a while it's good fun, though not much diving down for urchins, mind. One of the hosts shows how the urchins can be cracked upon to reveal the eggs which are apparently a prized sushi delicacy. Tim and Sue both try them - they look a little like small
Hello, Flipper
Be seeing your mates later on... yellow slugs. Not too bad, as it happens, but the Japanese can keep them.
The Rock pulls into a bay for a brief bit of sightseeing accompanied by some dolphins who are having a brief nose around. The group then kayaks to shore - the dolphins are still in the bay and Tim tries to swim out to meet them but they're not interested. Never mind - our travellers will have a shot at dolphin swimming later. Everyone climbs to the top of a hill for a great view of the Bay of Islands.
A visit to the Maori Cultural Show is coming up later and it's interesting to hear during the telling of some of the stories by our host that amoung Maori customs is that if someone annoys a Maori then they have the right to take their life. This will be worth bearing in mind.
As our travellers return to land - accompanied by dolphins again - they're left with a great feeling having travelled on The Rock. It's great value for money and while you need to be lucky with the weather they'd definitely recommend it.
The Maori Cultural Experience
The
host at The Rock warned that the Maori Cultural Show can be a pretty full-on experience. As it happens there turns out to be a need to select three blokes as 'Chiefs' to represent the visitors. The Maoris will then have their warriors come out to meet the chiefs with a respectful display of force to sound us out before offering us a token of acceptance. This is a lot more intimidating than it sounds - the warriors never break eye contact during the display of force and there's a fair bit of shouting and screaming to see if you'll back down. The trick is to stand your ground and keep looking them in the eye as you reach down to pick up the offering. To break eye contact would be considered disrespectful (as one chief did) and they will go to knock you sharply on the bontz for being so rude. Tim can say it's pretty hard not to flinch and that you can really feel the fight or flight reflex kicking in. Goodness knows what Cook's men must have felt.
Once all that is out of the way the whole group is accepted into the hall where
Nothing Wrong With A Bit Of Intimidation
I think this means that I'm only fit to be someone's dinner. the Treaty of Waitangi was signed for the show, which is told as a sequence of flashbacks into the past as a grandfather talks to his present-day grand-daughter, detailing key Maori events and traditions, such as the discovery of New Zealand, the arrival of the settlers and the signing of land agreements and land disputes. At the end it's revealed that the main speaker is in fact descended from the Maori Chief that cut down the flag pole in disgust at the Treaty between the Maoris and the British, which apparently has different interpretations in English and Maori - oh dear. It's a very entertaining and informative show - today's Maoris still manage to retain an intimidating demeanour, especially with the way they widen their eyes for emphasis when they talk to you.
Let's Make a Feature of It
On the way back to Auckland the Footprint Guide recommends stoping off in a town to - believe it or not - look at some public toilets. These have been lovingly crafted by an artist and do look really nice. Perhaps not a feature that every town would really want to be known for, mind.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.142s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0518s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb