Maori Ways and Eagle Rays

The pace of the trip was drastically changed by the introduction of a new character… the rental car! Vincent and I took an Uber from downtown Auckland, across the Harbor Bridge, and into the suburbs to pick up our White 2018 RAV from Bargain Rental Cars. From there, we headed 3 hours north towards the Bay of Islands.
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Driving on the left side of the road was definitely an adjustment, and Vincent did a great job throughout the day (and the trip in general). The suburbs and wide freeways were a much better place to start than downtown Auckland, but some of the curvy mountain roads in the Northlands were still tricky. In particular, it was stressful using the passing lane to get around slow trucks while keeping track of the curves, hills, and oncoming traffic. I helped out with the navigation, but it was a pretty direct route to Paihia. The scenery was a mix of forests and pleasant rolling green hills with plump sheep. Fields of wildflowers reminded us we were lucky to be visiting in spring.

​Paihia was a classic small beach town, with bay views, a pier, a few tourist shops, and one main road perpendicular to the oceanfront road. We checked into the AirBNB and had lunch on the patio, a nice respite after the challenging morning of driving. I decided to add on an extra adventure in the afternoon, and had Vincent drop me off at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds about 5 minutes away.

​Part of my visit to Waitangi was a Maori cultural performance. We stood outside the wharenui, the wooden meeting house, while a guide explained the first part of the ceremony. Until the hosts had established our intentions (peace or conflict), we had to stay a certain distance away. Then, the hosts emerged from the wharenui, shouting and trumpeting with a conch, and stared us down from the front porch. A young warrior with a pelt and a spear came forward to intimidate any nefarious guests with intense shouting and a presentation of arms. He also offered a plant symbolizing peace, which our newly appointed “chief” (a fellow tourist) accepted. We were then welcomed into the wharenui, minus shoes and hats.

​The walls were decorated with carved wooden figurines with tongues stuck out in defiance and shimmering abalone eyes. The ceremony continued with a blessing from our host chief, both in Maori and English. He explained that the main instrument used nowadays is the guitar, and proceeded to strum the chords while an ensemble of 6-7 performers sang the “ancient song” and an accompanying dance. There were also several demonstrations, including poi twirling (balls on strings that are spun in the air), tossing short sticks while dancing, and spear fighting maneuvers. While the performers were all friendly and welcoming, an enemy would definitely find their guttural shouts, eyes stretched wide, and spear-work to be quite intimidating.

​Afterwards, a tour guide with ancestors who signed the Waitangi Treaty gave us a walking tour of the historical site and more context about the key players. He spoke softly, and with a cadence that blurred together the punctuation between sentences, but I found him to be quite knowledgeable and funny. He considered himself a “Maori Polynesian” (as opposed to just Maori) due to his sense of connection with the greater Polynesian culture. I was surprised to learn that the Polynesians reached New Zealand circa 1300, much later than I would have guessed. We toured the house of James Busby, a British official who facilitated New Zealand’s declaration of independence and the 1840 treaty that established a partnership between the Maori and British. Our guide also pointed out the native plants and herbs growing on the property, as well as a large Maori war canoe made of giant kauri trees.

​I had a brief chance to visit the museum exhibit about the Waitangi Treaty, which was very well designed and had a balanced approach to exploring the motivations for both sides. It also pointed out some of the problematic aspects of the treaties, like subtle differences in meaning of the English and Maori versions of the document, British transgressions over time, and the Maori protests. I was fascinated by anecdotes about Maori chiefs traveling to London in the 1820s to mingle with elite British and advance Maori interests, like access to European weapons. The museum suggested that because New Zealand is such a remote place and both the Maori and British were bold enough to reach it on their own, that despite the clash of cultures, there was a shared character present at nation’s founding.

​It was a pleasant walk along the coast to get from the museum back into Paihia. We had some leftovers for dinner, and prepared for a busy few days. One errand was grocery shopping, but as luck would have it, the Countdown we visited was about to permanently close in a week. There weren’t many items left during this “Final Countdown.” Thankfully, the second store was well-stocked.

​The next morning, we checked out of the AirBNB, dropped our backpacks at the tour operator’s office, and boarded our cruise on the Bay of Islands. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy at first, but a few pockets of sunshine emerged as the day went on. The first main stop was a striking island called Motuarihoa, also known as Robertson’s Island, a location where Captain Cook had stopped while exploring (and naming) the Bay of Islands. There were brilliant views from the hilltop. To the left were the dark waters facing the open ocean; to the right were the cerulean blue waters of the protected cove.

​On the next part of the cruise, the plastic windows were lowered to protect us from the open ocean spray as we picked up speed (and turbulence) and jetted all the way to the Cape Brett lighthouse and went through the famous Hole in the Rock.

​The final stop was at an island called Urupukapuka. We disembarked at Otehei Bay and were given a free hour to explore. Vincent and I hiked over a hill to Urupukapuka Bay and were treated to a secluded cove with vibrant green grass and a nice beach. A few sheep grazed in the distance, until they were chased off by a shepherd in an orange vest, and two herding dogs (also in orange vests).

We had just sat down at a picnic table and dug out our sandwiches when Vincent spotted a stingray in the shallows. We leaped down from the grass onto the beach and excitedly followed the stingray from the shore. It repeatedly flapped its wings above the surface of the water like it was waving or beckoning to us. After disappearing for a few minutes, it reappeared at the other side of the beach for an encore. Our tour guide had mentioned a possibility of seeing eagle rays, but it wasn’t spotted like the pictures I’d seen before. Instead, it had a light-colored back with dark edges, like it was covered with a layer of sand. We think it might have been a New Zealand eagle ray! We returned to Otehei Bay and spotted two more stingrays in the harbor near our boat, a small one and a large one. On a day with few wildlife sightings, seeing multiple eagle rays was a major highlight.

​The remainder of the day was less magical. I made my left-side driving debut, but wasn’t used to the wide RAV so the narrow curvy roads were tricky, and my canned Boss coffee didn’t kick in as strongly as I was counting on. Vincent tagged back in and completed the remainder of the grueling 5-hour drive to Hamilton, including traffic jams and narrow lanes in Auckland. Thankfully the daylight lasted until we arrived in Hamilton, in a college neighborhood. I jumped into action and cooked a Mediterranean themed dinner with the shelf-stable ingredients that had made the journey with us. It ended up being a great meal of cous cous, pita, sauteed carrots and chickpeas, and hummus made with a potato masher. We settled into our rooms, both exhausted.

​​The Bay of Islands adventure was a nice reminder that sometimes even a few key hours – of island hopping, or the Waitangi cultural experience – can be extremely memorable, and justify the hours of difficult travel conditions. It was special having so much history and natural beauty in one place!