Day 24. A wet day in Russell with a broken umbrella, New
Zealand.
Today was still wet when I woke up this morning and I
actually had a decent nights sleep although i did watch a movie with some guys
who seem to be LOTR fans. Yes I got involved with the parts of the movie and
no, the movie wasn’t anything to do with Lord of the rings. We actually watched
for the first time on VHS (gasp) Lock, stock and two smoking barrels. Not a bad
British movie and different. I was booked for the Russell tour and I had done
this before, so luckily it was a wet day and I could do that. I checked with
the Kerikeri tour and they were not sure at that time of morning what was going
to happen. I told them I will get back to them later especially since they have
a office on the island.
I had bought both my brolly and a raincoat with me as I
would rather have that little bit of dryness with the wet weather hanging
around. It was funny as the weather was exactly the same as it was last time I
visited Russell and the tour guide was the exact same bloke I had last time
too. He didn’t remember me, but i did. Still It was pretty cool and I had to
check that I was ready to go as I had left the travel sheet at home with the
details. Before embarking on the hour tour of Russell, I headed to the First
church in the town. This church was the first one built in New Zealand and has
musket holes that I observed from the wars of the past with the Maori. I
thought he church was a lovely little building especially the seats of the pews
as they were all tapestries. Several I recognised including the Beagle, which
was Charles Darwin’s boat. I did wander the cemetery as well of course and
there were some interesting people buried there like the first white person
born in NZ or bay of Islands and a Maori Chief too I think it is.
The tour takes you all over the island and some of the
houses are really worth a lot of money several have been sold for over $1
million upwards to $9 Million too. The flag staff on flag staff hill was
chopped down at least 4 times during conflicts with the Maori who attacked the
town on several occasions including being nearly burnt to the ground except for
the church and Pompallier
Mission, which was a church and a printing press for bibles in
the Maori language. This was actually a French run mission and the English were
not too happy about it either. The whole area is historic especially when one
family has run a supermarket for around 8 or 9 generations on the same spot in
town. One of the hotels now a restaurant was actually a grog shop / brothel at
one stage and another hotel is actually the first liquor license in New
Zealand. The whole town in interesting especially when you learn more by
visiting the museum. Another place you can stay at costs $25,000 a night
minimum of 4 nights. Some Russians are staying there at the moment, which is
cool. The other name for the town of Russell is Kororāreka meaning sweet penguin
/ sweet penguin meat or something like it in Maori..
Once we got back to the info centre in Russell I trotted
inside and asked about the trip to Kerikeri. It had been cancelled and I got my
refund. I had to figure out which card I actually used and then I was on my way
for a wander around the soggy town on a wet day. After finding temporary relief
from a bladder, my brolly broke. I had pulled the handle out and this was before
I had seen about my cancelled tour. They advised that I try the chemist for a
new one. I found one, but have to learn to stop playing with the button as it
either collapses the brolly or shoots it up. Not fun if it is raining and it
goes down. I cant help but hit the big button that is cool. I was worried I was
going to lose it when I went to Russell museum. When I walked up the steps a
lady was complaining to her hubby that you have to pay to go inside. They were
complaining about the $7 entry. I nearly snapped back at them that they are ungrateful
people as those inside are volunteers and need money to buy stuff and update
the displays etc. I kept my mouth shut, but hovered around the entry to see if
they would say something. They never did and I got to see the museum in Russell
that had not really changed from my last visit. I don’t know if the ship Endeavour
was called the Bark Endeavour or both as I have read both in books. There was a
temporary display with items from the longest living founding families still in
town. Zane Grey gets a mention about his fishing and the records he has made
and there is also a video about the town too. The museum shop has many books
about the history of the area and I was thinking that my family members could
have visited the area too from The Hokianga.
After the museum I had a fish and chip lunch as you do in a
sea side town. I had three little sparrows watching me eat and I did not feed
them, but they were hanging with me like my own little crew that wanted
something to do. Next I visited Pompallier Mission, which I had before on my last trip. I am checking to
see if there have been any changes to the place. It started off as a French
mission and over time people actually lived in the house and demolished the
little church. The families that lived there did make changes and it was no
longer a printing house for the maori bibles. They did everything there and it
was bought in the late 90’s and fixed up by the conservation society and it is
as it is today with gardens from the families who lived there in the past. They
do show the differences through time strangely by using the dead rats. The
house had thick mud brick type walls, which was how it survives as the wood at
the time was very expensive. It was still raining by the time I wandered out.
By this time I thought I better leave for the mainland as it was late
afternoon and I wanted to get some washing done. I caught the ferry with a
happy do who wandered about the ferry as its owner was the skipper. Seems you
can return on any ferry you want even though they are owned by different
companies. Seem they reached this agreement around a year ago and they sort
everything out at the end of the day. Return it is $12, which is reasonable and
not that bad at all. On a nice day the Bay would look awesome. There was a
farmers market on the village green as it was owned by the Williams family, who
used to live in the house that is now the local library. How do I know this? There is information
plaques scattered around the area explaining what some of the buildings are and
even the gates, which are called kissing gates. Seems Wifi is also available and
people were using their computers in the rain, kid of worrying though and what
happens when the trees start dripping? I did eventually wander back to the
hostel and get my washing done while the new guy in my room was actually taking
the weekend off from his job at the YHA in Auckland and he remembered me from
the first time I arrived several weeks ago. He is pretty cool though and I was
charging my stuff before the morning that I leave and head into my birthplace
of Whangarei, spending time with grandparents and visiting some new places that
I have not been to before.
Tip.
Make sure you have another plan in case the ones you have fall apart. The
Kerikeri one got kaboshed twice and twice I had another plan, like Waitangi
treaty grounds and staying at Russell for longer
No comments:
Post a Comment