Aotearoa, or the long white cloud

New Zealand's Māori name is Aotearoa (pronounced ow-tear-roh-ah), which means "Land of the Long White Cloud". We have six stops in New Zealand, in both North Island and South Island. 

Bay of Islands was our first stop. It is in what is called Northland. Māori first came ashore here in the 9th century, and Captain James Cook arrived 900 years later. The town of Russell on the Bay of Islands became the first permanent British settlement and New Zealand’s first capital. In 1840, the treaty of Waitangi was signed which recognized Māori ownership of their lands and properties and gave them rights as British subjects while Britain gained all of New Zealand.

This was the inaugural visit of the Island Princess to the Bay of Islands, and we used tenders to get ashore since they don’t have dockage for cruise ships. Our little boat ride took 25 minutes to get to the little yacht club where we could dock.

My tour guide was a beef farmer, and he used to own a tour company, so he had a unique view and lots of information as we drove from the docks through towns and then farmland. We stopped in the town of Kerikeri to see the Mission Station, the oldest standing European building. This is where the missionaries lived and were protected by certain Māori tribes.

We then went to Puketi (PU-ke-tee) Forest to see the massive kauri trees. Kauris are cousins to the redwoods of California, and both only grow within a certain distance from the equator. They grow quite straight and tall (over 160 feet) and were used as ship's masts and for building houses. Puketi Forest is a protected area with a boardwalk you can walk on to prevent contamination of the habitat. It was cool and green, with sunlight filtering through the leaves and the cicadas singing in an otherwise silent forest.

Humans for scale

From there we went to a Māori meeting house, or Marae. It's their sort of town hala l, religious center and place of learning, where we took part in a solemn "powhiri" or welcoming ceremony. We were told about the legend of the carvings and the customs of the people that migrated from Polynesia over a thousand years ago.

This is symbolic of the Maori combination of their culture and Christianity - 

scriptures inscribed in Maori language, and a cross outside the Marae.

As we drove further into farmland, our guide told us about how “lifestyle” farms are becoming popular – people moving from the city and buying just ten acres or so where they can have a few animals and grow some food, but not make a business of it. I think in the states we call them "gentleman farmers". The landscape changes as drive through the populated town, then it thins out to these lifestyle farms, then it thins out even more to the dairy and beef farms.

I mentioned earlier that as part of the Waitangi Treaty that the Māori were allowed to keep their land and pass it down to their family. So at this point, tribal lands are owned by thousands of people, and they have annual meetings to vote on what should happen with the land – it cannot be sold without the consent of all the owners. Our guide also owns his beef farm as a fee-simple purchase, which is the colonial way to buy land. He owns his own farm and a piece of his family’s land as well.

The landscape was so lush and green due to the heavy rains they had in the weeks before we arrived

The lines for the tenders back to the ship were very long, so I stopped at the yacht club and had a sausage roll to kill time, and watched the young kids learning to sail on those tiny boats. I got back on board before last call and made an early night of it.

The next morning I found myself in Auckland, looking out into the Hilton Hotel on the wharf. The day was beautiful with fluffy white clouds in the blue sky, warm temperatures, and an ocean breeze that made it the perfect day for walking around. There is so much construction and activity in the downtown area and in the surrounding areas. You would never know that just last week Auckland was underwater with a cyclone that dumped feet of rain on them. And after we leave port, they are expecting another cyclone, even worse than the first.

Hilton on the right, Sky Tower straight ahead. We docked right in downtown

I took an orientation tour of the city which took us through different neighborhoods, learning about how Māori and Colonial cultures mixed. We saw beautiful colonial homes next to shiny modern homes. For those of you interested, the average home in Auckland costs $1 million (NZD) with about 7% loan interest.

We went to the war memorial museum for some stunning views of the city and harbor. 

I hopped off the bus at Sky Tower to catch the sights. I gutted it out and rode the glass elevator to the top and walked all around without falling to the floor and curling to a fetal position, so I considered my outing a success. There were a few lunatics who jumped off the building. Almost like bungee jumping, but they didn’t bounce, they just fell, and then slowed down at the end and got off on the ground.

View of the Auckland Bridge

Here is a lunatic jumping off the Sky Tower

Looking straight down

Safely back on the ground

Back down on the ground, I headed to Queen Street, the main shopping district, where I looked in all the fancy stores but did not buy anything. I made my way to Quay Street (pronounced “Key” – I’m learning new things every day), and walked down past all the restaurants and souvenir shops to Princes Wharf, where the Island Princess awaited me. I stopped along the way for some fish and chips, and then further along where I tried the New Zealand delicacy Hokey Pokey ice cream – vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of honeycomb toffee. Oh, what a joy. The perfect treat after walking all along the shops downtown and then down the wharf to the ship.

Quay Street

Yummy!

Auckland is known as the City of Sails, and the harbor was certainly true to its name. As we left port, there was a whole regatta of sailboats right alongside us. I was concerned a few were not going to make it out of the way! We are off to Tauranga tomorrow!