But first, we must finish with Wellington.  Doing it this way because some of this last part relates to what we saw in the Bay of Islands.

This beautiful model was found at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, one of the 500 best places to see in the world.  Here we learned more about the Maori and their journey to today.  Their DNA shows that they are Pacific Islanders who made their way from Taiwan ages ago on boats such as these.

This piece of artwork was made with Spam cans.  It was designed to show how bad the Maori diet got over the years.  When they first got to New Zealand they lived off the land and ate a diet of fish, nuts, and berries.  Thanks to the Europeans their diet evolved into one full of fat and sugar so they have the typical First Peoples’ curse of obesity and diabetes.This fantastic building is a Whare, pronounced farey.  It is the communal gathering place for the tribe and there can be one or many in any town depending on how many tribes or factions there are.  This one was built for the entire community, all races included.  Very nice.

We flew to Auckland from Wellington and then drove to Bay of Islands.  On the way we stopped at a forest of Kouri trees, some of the largest in the world.  We saw another silver fern, the symbol of New Zealand, a huge tree, and a cut log.  See Mark standing at the foot of the tree?  The mileage sign is mostly for Terri in Ontario.

A fun bathroom in Orewa, a little Maori town.  It was just designed and built by an artist who was trying to give some life to the town.  Didn’t work.

Here’s another giant tree, a Norfolk Island pine.  Check out the needles Mark is holding.  And an example of what you can do with river rock if you have enough time and super glue!

Our first adventure in the Bay of Islands was to Russell.  First stop was a mission founded by the French who did not so much as try to convert the Maori as they did give them the Bible which they felt explained the Maori system of beliefs.  They got this huge cast iron printing press there and printed, tanned leather, bound the books together and gave the Maori the word.  Mark got to pull the printing press and made this print which he gets to keep!  The brothers at this mission printed over 40,000 copies of books in the years they were there.  They got along with the Maori and seemed like a good presence on the island.

The Maori wanted to keep control in this part of NZ because Russell Island was an old trading, whaling, and commerce port.  It grew into —-

The Hell Hole of the Pacific!  More on this later.

The afternoon was a cruise of the Bay of Islands to The Hole in the Rock.

What a gorgeous day and what an absolutely gorgeous place.  We all thoroughly enjoyed this adventure!  And on the way we saw- – –

Dolphins!

And finally, the end of the story!  The Brits landed and tried to take the Maori land.  They were also trying to get rid of the French because they wanted this land.  So because there was this big standoff the King of England told the governor in Auckland to get a treaty done between him and the Maori.  Because the governor didn’t speak Maori he had a local missionary translate the document.  This missionary changed a few strategic words which gave the Maori sovernty over their land and themselves.  After a big talk the treaty was signed, then lost.  In the meantime the Brits started taking Maori land.  Eventually the treaty was found and Queen Elizabeth said that the treaty had to be honored so they started giving back land, giving Maori the right to govern themselves, teaching Maori to all children, and embracing the culture of these First People.  A better ending than most First People have gotten.

So now I come to the end of this saga with a happy heart and appreciation for the two great countries we’ve seen.  And best of all, we found out today we e been upgraded to Business Class for the trip home!  Perfect ending to a perfect trip!!