Thirty years on in KeriKeri
Almost five weeks since leaving the coast of Chile, we arrived in New Zealand.
The Bay of Islands was there when we opened the curtains.
So was the Quantum of the Seas, with 4.5k guests on board.
We had another tender ride over to Paihia on this sunny morning, where we'd begin our tour to a couple of significant historic sites in New Zealand's history.
Right now, everything was peaceful and calm.
Our short drive took us through forests of manuka trees (source of tea tree oil), arable farmlands (mostly maize) and kiwi fruit farms as we neared the town of KeriKeri.
We had visited KeriKeri on our first visit to New Zealand, some thirty years ago and remembered a small collection of houses and the airport, which was a field with a grass runway marked out with plastic milk bottles. We thought that perhaps we'd notice some differences 😉
There at the entrance to the town was a fascinating sculpture by local artist Chris Booth.
Right now, we were headed for the Kemp House and the Stone Store.
The Kemp House is the oldest building in New Zealand and a young local woman was there to welcome us.
She said clearly that the old wooden floors were precious and that we'd need to take off our shoes to go inside. “No excuses”, she said, “I've heard them all before and the answer is no…” 😉
We were glad to see inside this lovely house, set up as it might have been when it was home to the Reverend John Butler and his family.
I loved the way that small treasures had been stored in a chest of drawers, clearly labelled for us to open and look closely at.
There was more to see across the garden, though. I wandered over the lawn, noticing as I went some unusual ?seed pods? on the grass. Investigation needed!
The Stone Store was right next door and both a shop and a museum. As soon as she noted our yellow stickers, the assistant waved us through and invited us upstairs to see the museum exhibition.
This was beautifully done but whilst I was keen to see and read it all, I had seen the wealth of treasure downstairs already!
I didn't really want to buy but I very much wanted to look!!
And I smiled when I spotted St Eval tealight candles, which come all the way from home, in Cornwall, England!
It was a great way to begin our tour and I left remembering what I always loved about New Zealand: the charming people, the warm welcome and the sheer spirit of the place!
And driving back through KeriKeri, we did indeed notice some changes! (When we are home again,we must look out our old photographs and journals}
Over the hills to the other historic site on our tour, The Treaty House at Waitangi.
Our guide Sissi was waiting for us, to hand out listening devices and to offer information and suggestions in the same spirit as had her predecessor at the Kemp House.
We set off through the grounds towards the flag pole, with Mariner conveniently sitting in the bay behind. As we walked, Sissi told of the history of this place, of Viscount Bledisloe and James Busby, British Resident of New Zealand in 1833.
She explained some details of the Wharenui or meeting house in the grounds before taking us through the gardens to the house itself.
I spotted a small plaque at the foot of a tree
and made a mental note to ask Amy about these flowers!
Inside the house were a variety of artefacts in similar vein to the Kemp House earlier, but this was more about the house itself and the restorations that had been made. I enjoyed reading this small story about James Busby's family life on the wall, which had been nicely framed by the window frame in this recontruction.
In November 1834, first-born John Dow Busby was cutting his first tooth. Writing to his brother Alexander, James declared with a father's pride, “He almost never cries!”
He reminded Alexander of his promise to send a mattress: “I was present when you undertook to provide, not for the first only, but all that should be required. Agnes says she was put to the blush by your saying such a thing before several other people. She will not let you retract!”
The words of the man himself were there too, indicating the good will in which he approached his role.
It proved a challenge for me to negotiate the downhill gravel path to the boat house but with my Hero on hand, I made it This war canoe or waka taua is the largest in the world and is taken out every Waitangi Day in February each year. Forgive me the legs it appears to have - rather than edit them out, I left them in place 🤣 !
I was fascinated that this enormous boat appeared to have been stitched together.
I asked Sissi what had been used to plug the holes. “nothing” she replied, “the kauri wood expands in water and it becomes watertight as the wood swells. For that reason, it's taken out into the water three days before it is used”. Interesting!!
I liked the storage method for the oars, too.
As I gazed at the details of the construction and tried to work out just how it had all been done, I heard Sissi winding up our tour. Time to return to Paihia then.
When we arrived, my Hero took one look and said he was going back to the boat right away, whereas I said I'd take a quick look around the town. It was a very quick look though, because of the 5000 visitors there today (500 of us and 4,500 on the Quantum of the Seas) I think most were there in the main street!
I went over to the wharf and found the correct tender to take me back to Mariner!
But in the meantime, the weather had come in, the seas were very rough once again and the tender operation was proving tricky. Thankfully two or three local speedboats had been commissioned as well - my Hero told of bouncing over the waves as he sped back to the ship, whereas I spent thirty minutes with just nineteen others on one of Mariner's usual boats, chugging along.
An hour or two later, calm seas had returned, though the blue skies of this morning seemed to have become a distant memory. We'd had a great day here though, felt happy to have seen what we did and we were not too sorry to have missed the souvenir shops of Paihia at all!
