Northland proved a fascinating place for a week's exploration.
First day I drove all the way up through Auckland as far as Paratai near Helensville. Paratai had a lovely camping ground with lots of trees and I also got a free swim in the pool which had water heated by the naturally occurring hot springs. Not any mineral content or anything left in the water though: definitely an inferior experience to Hanmer!
Next day I explored all around the Kaipara Harbour. Lots of mangroves. Went down backroads and beach roads: the fingers of the harbour cover a huge area. Found the beautiful Minniesdale chapel in the "middle of nowhere", overlooking the harbour. This was a chapel set up by Pakeha settlers. I was somewhat stunned by the number of small churches in rural Northland, many of them dating back many years, and most of them associated with marae.
I also visited the kauri museum at Matakoe. This was an impressively set up museum, but I found myself feeling incredibly sad as I went through it. It told the story of how all the kauri trees had been logged in the area. There was a section set up with a "sawmill" that included many models of people, all modelled on real people. Little notices said who they were and who they descended from. There were also many exceedingly beautiful pieces of furniture in the museum. This museum had been set up by local people to convey their history, and it had been set up with a lot of energy and passion: yet I had this all pervading sense of sadness as I went through it. There was one small corner with info about modern efforts in conserving forests. I couldn’t see anyone else looking sad though, so it was actually a relief to meet up with friends a few days later to find they had had the same feelings at the loss of so many mighty kauri trees, some 2000 years old, all gone.
I had travelled a long way this day and stopped in Dargaville for the night. I had always imagined this town was somehow the "back of beyond" but I was surprised it was actually a vibrant and friendly place and I kind of liked it! I had never heard of the huge "Northern Wairoa" river that flowed through it. Apparently it is navigable for many kilometres. The tide was coming in, and water was rushing upstream with incredible force. I had never seen anything like it before.
Next morning I paid a visit to the West Coast coastline at Bayly’s Beach, before heading off up to the remaining kauri forest. First I walked through Trounson Kauri Park, getting somewhat wet in the process as it turned out! Then I took the main "tourist" tracks through the Waipoua Forest. It was so good to find an area with so many kauri still standing, their massive bulk filling the sky.
My next treasure was some travel through the Hokianga area. I first caught sight of Hokianga Harbour above Omapere, and it was a breathtaking sight, one of those views that has you getting out the camera and trying to take a line of shots to join into a panorama. The sandbar of golden sand at the harbour entrance is contrasted against the blue sea, and the land stretches far inland around the water. Very beautiful. Also very crowded just below in Omapere and Opononi in the summer holiday season! I carried on to reach Rawene where I took the car ferry across the harbour, and then spent time exploring the isolated rural roads down to Panguru.
I finally stopped for the night at Ahipara, and had my first walk along a part of the "Ninety Mile Beach", (which is actually more like 90 km). I found it a strange feeling to think that the beach just went on and on and on and on, flat "clean" sands just stretched out as far as my eye could see this low tide.
Sunday 6 January I joined a Harrison’s Coach tour for Cape Reinga. (Good value tour with an informative, friendly local driver if you are ever up that way.) The tour took us along 90 Mile beach in the bus, and we left the beach by travelling up Te Paki Stream, where toboggans were dragged out of the bus for people to slide down the sand dunes on.
Cape Reinga was a special place to be. Our bus driver, a Maori man from Kaitaia, gave us info about the significance of the site to Maori spiritually. We only had half an hour here though, presumably some kind of DOC requirement to reduce overcrowding. I would like to return one day in my car and spend more time just "being" there. We then popped across to another beautiful bay for lunch, before heading down the road south again. We passed Parengarenga Harbour and saw Te Hapua in the distance, the settlement that has the most northern school in the country.
Monday I began to see a few places I had met up with before, when I was teaching in Kerikeri for the year in 1980. The dental nurse, had taken me on a trip as far north as beautiful Cable Bay, and we had climbed the distinctive peak of Taratara. I drove down to Matauri Bay and was somewhat surprised to find that access to the Rainbow Warrior monument was not possible "to protect the privacy of the campers". Partly I did not mind this, as it was a stinking hot day to be thinking of climbing anywhere! – but I am going to ask Greenpeace about it all the same. I had actually stayed in Matauri Bay one night back in 1980 as the husband of one of the teachers was principal here: I remembered the amazing view from on high, as the school sits on the hill well above the beach.
My next exploration was a trip "down memory lane" in Kerikeri…… except the place has changed so much it was almost impossible to recognise it! What was a sleepy rural town is now a busy, heavily populated place. I found my old classroom at the school, and a whole line of new classrooms stretched out beyond it! My old flat, the grey cold place we used to call "Colditz" was still there, but also much changed. It is hard to find as it is surrounded with vines and a thick green hedge. I found the owner in the backyard, and he showed me around. There has been a lot of renovation done and the place looks great. I spent sometime exploring on the other side of the river, where it had all been very rural in my day, and is now very built up, with a new school as well.
I spent a couple of hours at Waitangi. They had good displays explaining the history behind the Treaty, and a sound and light show explaining the significance of the carvings in the meeting house. I only wished I could find out even more about the carvings.
I then took the "long road" around to Russell, experiencing more of rural Maori Northland. In Russell itself I ended up spending a couple of hours at Pompallier House, where there was an excellent guided tour by a local woman who was obviously passionate about the history of the area. What the Historic Places Trust has done at Pompallier is truly wonderful. This building is unique in that it is made of "rammed earth" in a style that comes from the Rhone Valley region of France. The house was never a Bishop’s "Palace" as was popularly thought for many years. The bishop and priests lived in a small, very overcrowded house on the property. The big "house" was actually a factory for making books. I learned a lot here. Apparently in the very early days of Maori-Pakeha contact, Maori were very interested in literacy and Catholic books poured from this printery to satisfy demand. Leather was cured here for the covers; type was set and proofed. I was lucky enough to be allowed to "operate" the small proofing press during our tour, and printed a copy off an old engraving, which I was allowed to keep. The Historic Places Trust have set things up so that the old processes have been recreated, albeit on a small scale, and the old books are being reprinted using the old techniques. It was fascinating.