Te Papa Wellington - 2

Te Papa also has a section on the Pacific Island in general, retracing their voyages,

different islands, different peoples, differents tatooes.

 Love the "bolduc" necklace

And an impressive interactive display to taste the Pacific Island's music.

This table enable each "player" to command one instrument.

Lots of fun!

Wellington by the Tardis

(Following Mum's footprints, from Wellington to Nelson)

We actually met some bad weather and found ourselves (well, really myself, having only packed crocs...) in need of travel supply. In there some nifty black shoes hide.

 The strong winds, a regular if not daily occurrence in Welly, didn't trouble our ladyship-pilot and her first mate, who landed the plane extremely smoothly.

And after a quick stop to the Youth Hostel to get lighter bags, we walked on the warf

... and entered Te Papa museum.

here's the first glimpse, on the Te Aotearoa section (there are 6 levels, with 2 temp exhibitions and 2 permanent). In several display you find yourself listening to a Moko (petit-enfant) and a Koro (Grand-pa) talking about legends, with swirling maori pattern on the ceiling.

A little mystical.

 Rachel did wonder why these door were so tiny, for your average Maori warrior size. And she got Intel! Apparently it is designed for tight fit so that if you are inside and you don't like that warrior that's coming, you can beat them out.

Belwo is a more modern version of Maori art. This was taken in a cotemporary Marae (sort of community hall), and it features the Maori symbol overlain by the Treaty of Waitangi.

There Mano and I filled a form about our identity. We had to think about how we came to Aotearoa, who was our father, our mother and where were the Mountain and the River we knew.

Somehow Mano picked Olympus Mons from Mars....Go Percy Jackson.

Mano and Rachel chilling while taking the sight of Wellington :)

However, Te papa has a little more in store than traditional Maori culture...

Reviendus (Back home)

Not wanting to go back to work tomorrow....

Trip to Northland - Deep in the Kauri Forest

 Lucky the navigator, aim for the forest

 Mano and Tane Mahuta, the largest living Kauri in NZ, about 13.7m diameter, 2,100 years...

And below is the gum collection. Gum digging was a large industry for years. Gum was used as ornaments, to make oil, wax; the wood (sometimes retrieved from swamps) was used for building.

 Claire's paradise :-)

Trip to Northland - dunes

Awaking in Spirits' Bay on a shelly beach

Being in Spirits' Bay we left a message for Jim

then...

back on the road, just south west of Cape Reinga to the Giant Te Paki sand dunes!

They just wouldn't fit my camera. So here's a shot of Mano climbing one, his surfboard in hand. You can count about the same height he already climbed that I've chopped cos we were the only ones keen to touch the sand!

Going back for more!

 The dunes are so massive that they've started indurating in places.

Although not as spectacular as the Te Paki dunes, there are a number of dunes along the west coast, below is Opononi. A village where a female doplhin used to come and play with people, letting the kids ride her back!

Trip to Northland - touching the Cape

First encounter with "mimosa", just out of Pahia 

 Kerikeri - historical building.

 Kerikeri used to be a trading post. The building on the left has been kept as a museum/shop. You can see lots of things from what Mano calls "the olden days". Nail mills, strange portable harps, ink and feathers to write...

 Need I say that there are such things as the Kerikeri volcanics?

 Mano feasting on the botanic garden. He loves taking pictures of flowers.

 Back on the road for an hour or so, Mangonui

 We looked but this time the hermit crabs were mega quiet.

Another couple of hours furhter, through Kaitaia, then following the Ninety Mile Beach.

Last couple of hours in the sun at Cape Reinga. Cape Reinga is a very significant place for Maori, and believe to be where all soul go to leave the island.

 Before reaching the lighthouse, the road wind and gradually get straigther and on the last couple of kms, one can see both shores  round steep-sided shores.

I know it sounds a little far-fetched, but you can actually see the Pacific meet the Tasman Sea.

Special place.

 Slightly to the South the eastern/north coast shelter Spirits' Bay, where we pitched our tent in the very last rays of sun. The camp extends about to where the car is located. The hill on the left is inhabited by wild horses and not open to the public. It is a sacred Maori site.

Team South :-).

Trip to Northland - getting to the Bay of Islands!

Starting in Whangarei to visit the boardwalk amongst Kauri trees

The crew next to a Kauri

Stop along the magnificent Tutukaka coast, this is how you get to the light house. 

Had to U-turn 'cause of high tide!

 The carrots "sont cuites"

 Tutukaka

 Jupming the ferry in Opua to reach Russell, formerly the equivalent of the Tortuga Island of Pirates of the Carribbean (i.e. lots of lawless individuals used to live there)!

 Mano setting camp

 No I did not copy paste this from a brochure about the French Riviera...

 Late swim for Mano at Long beach, Russell

Apero!