Day 25. From Paihia to Whangarei with entertainment

Day 25 Paihia, Bay of Islands to Whangarei

The day started off pretty well and it wasn’t actually raining before I was going to leave for my home town of Whangarei. I wandered off into town before I had to go anywhere like checkout of where I am staying at the YHA. The English couple got up before me and I was the second last person to leave in the morning. I went after coffee and a pie from the bakery. I lightly teased the bakery lady who was heself drinking a coffee and she said that she tried to limit herself to one coffee a day, but that wasnt working out very well. I had time and with the crumbs I fed the sparrows that were camping out at my feet waiting for food. I think they were happy and I did have 4 others arrive as well. A little squad of birds. I should explain a little about the bunk beds in the hostel I am staying at or was. I am on the bottom bunk and usually you would think there is enough room to sit down. These ones you would have to be really short and I can lie with my hands up bend at the elbows. I kept banging my head when trying to sit on the edge of the bed. I am good at trying to knock myself out.

By the time I checked out and wandered to the wharf, where the bus would stop. I was happy to read my book about the New Zealand Wars so I could learn more about the conflicts between the what man and the Maori. I might get the Musket wars, which is before this period when the maori found guns to be better used in war against each other. A man came out to tell us that the bus had broken down, so we will have a little bit of a wait for it to eventually come. I went inside and tried playing with what wifi centres I could use to see if they have passwords. They all seem to and the bus had broken down north of Kerikeri. I did get Granny and Claude know about the delay and Whangarei is only really an hour away by bus. The waiting begins and I am not in the slightest worried about the delay as I am happy to wait. The wait was not so bad at all as I was talking to several people from England who had been to Australia and found travel a bit expensive. I told them that is why I am in New Zealand as it was easier and cheaper. The companies seem to be more reliable too over here.

The bus did turn up around an hour later than it was scheduled and I think I was the only person in the bus getting off at Whangarei. The trip was pretty quick although I did get the evil eye from the maori chick in the seat in front of me trying to sleep. I think she seen my camera pointed at something and just wanted a look at what I was doing. I was not worried about being late today at all as being not far I would have enough time to chill with my grandparents who I will be with for the next couple of days. The weather was actually starting to clear up a touch and I don’t know if the next couple of days will be cold or not. I will soon find out about that. I did have Claude waiting for me and he did pick up my day pack, which he thought was heavy and I had my normal pack. I had actually swapped some things around before coming. I still have some things to post home, so I can add more before I fly home.

Once I was safely in the car, I thought we would end up going home. We didn’t though as we stopped at the location in Whangarei along the water called The Basin. We ate out lunch and then I was told that I could have a look around especially as I wanted to look at the Clock museum. The Claphams clock museum was owned as a private collection in the early 1960s. The man was eccentric and owned several hundred clocks that turned into a thousand or so. He was very well known in New Zealand and his humour and little jokes too. The location today was near Tikipunga as he had protected and owned the land of the falls known as Whangarei Waterfall from being used for commercial reasons. This is pretty cool as I am 15 mins walk from the falls. He sold the clocks to the council as he wanted them to be viewed by the public. There are many clocks, they are all ticking and striking the hour, but not all at once as it would be crazy. The lady gave me a discount for being a YHA member and a uni student too. Four clocks that were mentioned were the H1 – H4 that are kept at the Greenwich museum about longitude. These are known as the Harrison clocks. They go through the history of clocks from novelty, work clocks for punching on and off including nautical clocks. Time pieces are donated from families that have lived in the area for generations.

After wards I decided to wander towards Rayburn house, which is a historic house that houses art exhibitions as well. I think it could be the old customs house that had been moved around to its current location. A museum called History on Wheels did catch my attention although I didn’t stay long there. It was showing their collections from their main museum. I was able to look at the Packard cars from several generations and even a model T Ford. They had the flying flea too, which was a motorbike they parachuted out of planes. Another car was from the American prohibition that had crashed and was held by the police. Somehow it ended up over here on display. The main museum is located at Maungatapere. Bit of a mouthful too. After here, I went to the Reyburn house where I wandered around looking at some of the art work with Claude. I found several books I would like, but might find cheaper. One was history of Whangarei and the other Memories of the Hokianga. Local book here I come maybe.

Once I was able to bring my bags back, we were off around a half hour later to visit the Parua cemetery. Claude had family buried there, not direct relation to me, but still family in my eyes. He had actually gone up here in the past and repaired one of his grandparents grave that had been falling apart. It was well worth seeing someone that had actually done this. Several had been done in the area. There is a museum dedicated to the family members who came from Nova Scotia to New Zealand. We did see several other people including the first employer of Claude’s. There are several other people with similar names who are not related. We did take a drive past the Whangarei airport that usually flies to Auckland and packs only the light planes that has around 20 seats. We went down to the town basin where they have the history of Whangarei. There are several different spellings for the town that have appeared in the records. Coal was mined here and the town was once abandoned during 1845 for fear of attacks from the Bay of Islands. Then it was time to head back home. I did find a show that was interesting and seems they have made Footrot Flats into a theatre production. I was thinking about going, but I don’t want to rush anyone at all.

Tip

Seems there are people who love my tips and this is for you. Be good to your mother.... Kidding. To learn more about the area you are going to pick up brochures and look online about what is on. You may get a big surprise in finding something you never knew about before. If you like learning then History type tours. The locals may have some ideas.