Day 3 Whirlwind Tour of New Zealand.

Day 3 Whirlwind Tour of New Zealand.

Today the weather was cloudy, no rain and was sunny with lots and lots of wind. It was hot when you were in the car, but while in it you were a little shivery. Its all cool though as it wasn’t raining at all during the day. I was happy for that as I didn’t have to get wet today at all, but I did have a jumper. The car drive was pretty good and worth going on one day that is really nice. The plan was to head to Waipu, which I had gone through several times on the bus to Whangarei.

The trip to Waipu was really nice and I was happy it wasn’t raining and we had waiting for a nice day to leave. Before we went to the town, Claude took me out to the new bridge that had been built and does open several times a day to let boats through. The bridge does show on a car ad over here in New Zealand as it is pretty new. I took plenty of pictures and then we were off again. I was happy to get into the Waipu museum for a little cheaper as the lady thought I was a student. I didn’t complain as they thought I was a younger kid with my grandfather. I am a student, but didn’t have my uni card on me at all. I had though the people had come straight from Scotland. It wasn’t the full story as the Reverend Norman McLeod had taken people to Nova Scotia as times had become tough for survival in Scotland with rents going up and people being pushed off farms. They had heard about Australia from their strict Calvinist preacher Norman who was known as The Man as he did have power amongst his followers. When they went to Australia after building their ship they found Adelaide to be in drought and Melbourne in the grips of a gold rush. After a short stay in Melbourne they went to New Zealand after correspondence with Governor Grey. It was in Auckland where they were looking for land and found Waipu in Northland New Zealand in an area called Bream Bay named after Captain Cook had caught fish there. I did buy some books about the area and I will buy the book about trains in New Zealand before I do leave for home as it would be cheaper in Whitcoulls.

After some wandering around town and to see where they play the highland games during New Years on the footy field. I did learn the kids learn Scottish dances during their breaks at school. Seems no other schools do this. There was the memorial to the coming of the settlers and also the war memorial outside the church grounds, which housed the old school house and teachers house as well. We did head down the road towards the area called the Cove. The Waipu cemetery was where the reverend Norman McLeod is buried. Claude and I were both wondering where wondering where in the cemetery he was buried and the location turned out to be easier than we thought as his grave was signposted at the end of the rows. It was a nice wander, but it was windy and cold, so I wandered back to the car.

After the cemetery we drove down towards the Waipu Cove to have a look at the beach, which was nearby. I had been following some of the site numbers, which were part of the heritage trail for the Waipu area. The toilet block down at the beach did have some great murals painted of life from the past including of Reverend Norman. After a spell in the area, Claude took a drive to the refinery where Claude had worked in the past with the construction of the area. After visiting the refinery showroom which is a very basic museum, we did learn the refinery is the only one in New Zealand and takes crude oil and processed it into fuels and other products. There is also a pipeline that goes from Marsden point to Auckland and the flow can be controlled and sent to the right storage areas. The refinery does operate 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It was an interesting tour and I had seen the information about it the night before and was not too sure. I am glad I got to mark this place off the list and we did make it home before dark.