An early morning ferry ride again today but it was earlier and dark for quite awhile, dark on the ferry ride from Waiheke and through downtown Auckland to the InterCity bus depot. It’s a four hour ride to The Bay of Islands with heavy morning traffic getting out of Auckland, stops along the way for travelers, through bush and farmland, water in the distance, rain and sun off and on, colors so vibrant. I’ll start with a photo from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds (see later), not because that’s how I felt this morning but because it’s a great opener for this entry.

Here are the views along the way from Auckland to Paihia.

We arrived in Paihia 45-60 minutes late but we got here and it is as beautiful as all the other places I’ve seen. My plan was to walk to my motel, drop off my bag and walk to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to visit the museum, see the 3pm Cultural Performance and the 4pm guided tour of the grounds. It ended up it was a lot of walking so I had to forego the performance but will come back on Friday.

Walk to motel from the wharf:

And now a walk to the Treaty Grounds from the motel:

One of the tricky things for me on the walk to the Treaty Grounds was trying to find it even though it should have been quite simple. The tricky part was that there were two signs, one that said ‘Waitangi Treaty Grounds 500 meters’ (walk, walk, walk about 500 meters) followed by another sign that said ‘Waitangi Treaty Grounds 500 meters’ (walk, walk, walk about 500 meters more)’. I did get there but asked for directions at a hotel that was close by. This is why I missed the cultural performance but I did arrive with time to make a start at the museum and have the guided tour.

The museum is so well done, very informative and interactive. I loved how they contrasted the perspectives of the Maori and the British right from the beginning and equally. For example, the sails:

The first people from both sides:

The first main players in this land:

The next people to interact and begin trading:

The first instruments to call:

Depiction of the beginning of trade:

There’s a great video re-enactment of the signing of the treaty between many chiefs of the 13 tribes and the British. There are only three articles in the treaty, with the first being about giving the Maori sovereignty (but not translatable into Maori); the second gives the chiefs ‘full exclusive and undisturbed possession of lands, forests and fisheries.’; the third makes the Maori British subjects with full rights and responsibilities. This was all done in Queen Victoria’s name. The translated Maori version of the treaty was worded differently than the English version so that it had a better chance of being signed by the chiefs. Not all chiefs signed it.

The treaty continues to be under dispute today especially since so much land has been taken from the Maori. Queen Elizabeth is the only monarch to have visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds when she was on her world tour in 1953.

At this point, I had to leave the museum to get to my 4pm tour of the grounds, knowing I would be back on Friday. The tour started at the Carved Meeting House:

We walked the grounds and learned about the trees and plants that were used for ship repairs and rope when all the ships from around the world were coming to this part of New Zealand (Russell, the ‘hell hole’ of the Pacific) for resources: timber, flax and whale oil (biggest buyer and shippers were the Americans who brought it back to Nantucket, the world’s largest producer of whale oil). The flax plant below is what is used to make ropes that are stronger than jute or hemp and also what is used to make the woven mats seen so commonly here.

Our tour took us to the carved ceremonial war boats of the Maori called ‘waka’. They’re huge, held many men, weigh many tons and were a force to be reckoned with when they went into battle after the signing of the treaty.

We ended the tour at closing time and I decided to take a taxi back into Paihia. Dinner at Rayz On The Bay looking out on the water. Another great day!