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The birthplace of New Zealand.

I would be remiss if I did not recognize Callie and Uncle John’s birthday🎂 on this post. Although when we went to the Treaty Grounds, technically it was not their birthdays. So maybe I will recognize their birthdays on their birthday which was Monday for us.

Today we had to catch the 9 am ferry. Actually we were told our ticket time had changed from 11 to 12, so really we had to catch the 10 oclock ferry which means that we could be left off really close to the Treaty Grounds. Jim and I had breakfast from Hell Hole again. I really like their toasties made on homemade Rewana bread, a Maori type sourdough bread but made with potatoes. Check the link for a recipe. This morning I chose the Kim Chee Sandwich and Jim had the BLAT Bagel and of course 2 coffees! The elixir of life. I have to say, so far, when we have ordered anything with avos (as they call them here), which are grown up the road from where we are staying, they are mushed up. Like a guac but not with the seasoning. They are good, but I really would like just a slice of avocado as it is not as messy as ground up avocado.

We always get takeaway so we can eat on the veranda. Dotty had stopped by the Grazing Table, another restaurant around the corner from the hotel for coffee and toasties. She purchased a veg frittata for Mommy, but I didn’t get a picture of it.

We moseyed down to the dock to catch the ferry at 10. It is Sunday so the dock store is closed today and we couldn’t peruse the tchotchkes. You will be happy to know… Pony made the ferry trip!

The ferry we took actually dropped us off right at Waitangi Treaty grounds…. Did I say that already? Well it didn’t really we had to walk a “bit” to get to the entrance.

So since our time for our guided tour moved from 11 to 12 and Waitangi Treaty Grounds has changed their cultural performance time to 3 times a day, we were early… way early for our guided tour, but we could hop in on the 11 o’clock cultural performance and then go back for our guided tour. Gammy had walked a lot by then and I noticed there were wheel chairs available, so I asked if we could borrow one. The wheel chair did awesome until we had to go uphill, so Dotty and I let Jim take over pushing, pushing real good UP the hill.

The performance was a 30 minute show with actors wearing ritual costumes, singing, and using swinging pompoms, and sticks. It lasted about 30 minutes and then we pushed Gammy downhill back to the meeting place for the guided tour. We offered to give her one strong push and try to race her down to the bottom to catch her.She opted not to go that route🤣 Go figure!

This is how the performance started.. I didn’t get all of it, but you can get the idea.

So now we come to CeCe! CeCe was our tour guide. OMG! I apologize for not getting a picture. CeCe (which actually may not be how you spell her name?) was a teacher of middle schoolers and said they drew too many phallic symbols on their paper (she said penis) so she decided to teach adults instead. She taught English and was impressed with the Maori students because they were excellent critical thinkers (they couldn’t spell as they grew up with Maori language). She asked the Maori teacher why that was and was told the Maori language is built upon metaphors. I thought this was excellent..

CeCe then asked if there were any international visitors. She had a story about the arrival of each nation that was visiting Sunday…UNTIL… one man spoke up and announced he was from Patagonia. CeCe was shellshocked and speechless. Even told one of the other ladies to mark it down in the history books. CeCe likes to talk and tell stories

So CeCe showed us around telling stories. One story she told was about Te Aokapurangi who crawled on top of her meeting house in Rotorua to save her people. The plaque tells all!

The guided tour ended at the Treaty house. Here are a couple of Jim’s pictures.

After the tour, we all ventured together separately into the Museum of the price of citizenship. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the museum which detailed those Maori who fought in all the wars, up through WW2 with the 28th Battalion. A whole room is dedicated to those who died and as you leave there is a rock that drips water to cleanse you of the spirits who may follow. The following pictures are from the outside of the museum and Gammy took most of them.

After the weightiness of the museum, we ate our lunch and pushed Mommy back to the gift store where she walked around. Dotty, Jim and I went down to the boat. This war boat was carved from a Kauri tree.

So after visiting the boat and the gift shoppe, we missed the 2:15 free shuttle to Paihia. We had to wait until 3:15, even if the shuttle shows up at 3:00, she does not leave until 3:15. And the last shuttle leaves at 3:45. It only takes the shuttle about 10-15 minutes to get from the treaty grounds to the ferry terminal, so we had plenty of time to catch the ferry back to russell… well after I spent time discussing the weather with the Hole in the rock cruise people. The Cape Reinga people had called earlier in the day to warn me that we may not fly as the weather was a bit chancy… Do we get to go on our tours? Will we be stranded on Gilligan’s Island? You will have to wait for the next blog to find out, for now, we need to go back to Russell and eat dinner!

Jim and I stopped for a beverage in the Duke’s bar (I ended up leaving a little something something I bought for Q at the gift shoppe. I however did not realize I left it…..I also may or may not have procured a few (7?) Duke of Marlborough coasters.

On to dinner, after Jim and put our things away. Or maybe we have a little nap and then go to dinner. Anyway we tootled across the road to the Nauti Penguin. The Nauti Penguin was a bit dead, so as we are wont to do, we made friends with the owner/manager, passed out some more stickers, watched Rugby, drank beer, and ate dinner. Nauti Penguin Menu

After dinner it was bedtime for Bonzo and I don’t remember much else. Or maybe we played rummikub. I don’t think so… but then again.. it has been a long day!

#HowFortunateWeAre #MakeYourOwnSunshine. #AdventureOfALifeTime