Bay of Islands Day One

I’m writing this at about 7:30 am sitting on the veranda of Cap’n Bob’s Beach Front Backpacker in Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

Cap’n Bob’s is listed in the Lonely Planet and is delightful, but a big change for us. All our time in Australia was booked through travel agents who have a number of incentives to make sure you stay in upscale places. Cap’n Bob’s is definitely not upscale, but definitely delightful. It’s a “bathroom down the hall” structure apparently built to do what it does: house backpackers and others who don’t need a fancy place to sleep or don’t want to pay for one.

Miriam and I have a “double” which is a small room with a double and single bed, right on the ground floor corner, with big windows overlooking the Bay of Islands. Granted, the view is better if you stand up tall so you can see over the motel in front, but we get the sea air and we really can see the bay and the night sky. There is a common area with a kitchen and big veranda above us. We went up there last night after we walked along the waterfront and munched a pizza in town. Met two very nice young women; one from Germany and one from Ireland, who are taking extended, working vacations over here. The German lady has been apprenticing in Germany as a travel agent and she is truly suited for it. She LOVES her travels in New Zealand, and talking with her is like having an animated, excited tour book.

Miriam was still asleep, so I strolled down about a block to the little bakery. We peered in its darkened window the night before and couldn’t tell whether it could cater to our now firmly established addiction: flat whites. But it does! So I’m writing this sitting on the veranda, feeling the cool sea breezes, listening to the birds, eating a freshly baked multi-grain roll, and sipping a flat white. Ahhhh, life is good.

After Miriam got up we went to the Waitangi treaty grounds. Waitangi is where the treaty was signed between England and many of the Maori chiefs. The treaty is a very interesting for lawyers. It was drafted by a representative of the Queen, and very clearly says (I read the document) that the chiefs transfer all their sovereign powers to the Queen.

However, the Maori chiefs could not read English, so a version was prepared in Maori by a missionary working near Waitangi. That version (which I can not read) apparently says something about shared power. The English version was signed by only a few chiefs. The Maori version was signed by a majority of Maori chiefs.

Not surprisingly, there is an active dispute today about what the treaty means, and the most difficult issues relate to ownership of land. With my level of ignorance, it is very easy to see parallels between NZ’s issues with Maori and the U.S.’s issues with Native Americans.

The treaty grounds were donated to NZ by two Brits who once were representatives of the Queen here. The treaty grounds has a 20 minute video describing the signing of the treaty, and it seemed to us that it was carefully worded to give offense to no one.

We signed up for a tour of the treaty grounds. Our tour was led by a youngish (26) Maori man who was quite engaging. He speaks, of course, with a NZ accent. As nearly as I can tell, the NZ accent isn’t nearly as dramatic as the Auzzie accent, and, to my ear at least, sounds quite British. He spoke very quickly, and it was interesting to hear a recounting of Maori history by a Maori tribal member in a British accent, all at a word rate of about 150% of American standard.

The carvings in the Maori meeting house on the treaty grounds are amazing. It is much larger than a traditional house would be, and the carved wall supports come from different tribes. It was built for the centennial of the signing of the Waitangi treaty in 1940.

There is also a huge Maori war canoe on the treaty grounds.

We drove back to Cap’n Bob’s, walked over to the grocery store, walked back, and caught the shuttle to the treaty grounds for the evening for a “cultural performance.” It presents a visit by one tribe (us, the visitors) to another tribe who are assumed to live in the large meeting house on the treaty grounds.

It was quite interesting. Apparently visitors to a traditional Maori tribe went through a ritual in which they were threatened by the warriors of the tribe they visited, and only welcomed if they behaved appropriately.

At this point I should mention that the average Maori male appears to be larger than me and heavier than me (but not nearly as chubby).

So seeing several healthy young Maori posture and threaten with weapons at close range is quite intimidating. Miraculously we passed the ritual test and were invited in to the show.

The show consisted of a welcoming greeting sung by women, and then a “play” about an older man talking to his grandson. It was well done. The child was alternately bored and interested, and the grandfather (I’d say “old man” but he looked younger than me) often got lost in his memories and left his grandson behind. His memories were mostly acted out, danced and sung by a group of young Maori people.

I have no way of evaluating the authenticity of any of this. All I know is that it was written by a Maori man, but the dancing and singing were delightful. Some of it was warlike, and some of it just for amusement. The women did nifty rhythmic dances with white puffy things on strings called “poi” that they swung about in very complex ways. I have seen jam band hippy types do similar things in the U.S. and I suspect they originated with the Polynesian/Maori poi.