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Published: February 8th 2015
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Having bought some new walking boots in Auckland we went tramping through the forest on a small hike to break them in. We had planned a longer hike but it kept raining off and on. The trees in the forest are immense, Tane Mahuta is the countries largest kauri tree, it is about 2000 years old and measures nearly 18 metres to the first branches and is about 4.4 metres in diameter. Tane Mahuta is known as "The Lord of the forest" and as you can see I got very attached to one of them! Who said all tree huggers were bonkers!
Been out on a boat today around the Bay Of Island to go dolphin watching and possible swimming. We were out in the boat only about 20 minutes and spotted our first pod. It's not until you get up close to them that you realise just how big they are. All the dolphins we saw were bottle nosed dolphins and there were about 8-10 in the first group. They were moving pretty fast but we managed to keep up with them and were treated to some close up encounters. There are strict regulations about how long you are
able to stay with a pod so after half an hour we went in search of some others. Another boat had found a small group of young males and female dolphins and we were told that with these we could get in the water and try and swim with them. Baz and I both had our swim stuff on with every intention of getting in however for me we had now moved into open water and the jaws music had kicked in and actually as soon as anyone got in the water the dolphins just swam off and were not very interested in the human playmates that had chucked themselves into freezing cold water and swum like the clappers to try to keep up. Baz very bravely got in the water twice to try to swim out but realised that it just wasn't happening and climbed back aboard, every credit though! The dolphins were actually only interested in each other, apparently dolphins have sex for pleasure and not just for making little dolphins and this is what they were doing, so it's no wonder that the strange little beings splashing about frantically held no interest for them! The sighting that
we had were fabulous, they were up close to the boat and leaping out of the water. They are so graceful and majestic it was a wonderful experience and a priviledge to be up so close to them, ten out of ten! We rounded our day off with a visit to Russell which is a quaint little town across the water from Piahia, we sat in a lovely restaurant, watched the world go by with a glass of vino and then caught the ferry back. Another pinch me is it all real day.
Today we have been to the Waitangi Treaty grounds which if any of you are into history will know that it is otherwise known as the birthplace of a nation. The treaty was signed on 6 February 1840 between the Maori chiefs and the British and was designed to legally protect the Maori people their customs and land. There is a lot more to the treaty than just that and the Maori version and the British translation are not the same and there have been ongoing disputes since to try to straighten out the details. We had a guided tour of the area and the chap
was very informed but as a descendant of the original tribe that inhabited the very North of the Island he had some real stories to tell. He explained the treaty, how gathering the chiefs of all the tribes together in the 1800's was not always possible and how the Maori people went from being 99% of the population in 1840 to just 5% in 1900. This was mainly due to diseases brought over by Europeans which resulted in the native people dying, this along with the convicts coming over on the trade ships brought a great unbalance to New Zealand. Happily the Maori people are now at 15% of the population which is still a minority group but as our tour guide said it's all good and going in the right direction. We watched an authentic cultural performance which included traditional songs and dances and included the haka, which has been made famous by the All Blacks. I have to say it's actually very intimidating and quite scary cos the blokes are not little and when they are doing this and have a spear in their hands it's quite a spectacle. The treaty house built for James Busby and the
beautiful meeting house across the lawn with all it's intricate carvings are all something worth seeing and the history of it all is fascinating. We saw a large war canoe which is called Ngatokimatawhaoru, it is 35 meters long and can fit 120 men. It needs at least 76 paddlers to be able to handle it. Apparently when the Queen was doing a state visit in 1975 the canoe was brought out into the water and she asked if it could be HMS Ngatokimatawhaoru. The response was absolutely and if ever the British navy is in trouble and runs out of vessels they will be sure to come to our aid and row it over. As you can see from the pics a good day was had again, very thought provoking and a real insight into a different culture and way of life, all good. Moving on again tomorrow via the airport to change the car, fingers crossed! A battle may ensue so it's a good job we have learnt new skills in the way of the haka and lots of tongue pulling out etc!!
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