Hell Hole of the Pacific (and other wonderful places)

... aka Russell, now a quaint, quiet, peaceful and beautiful seaside resort on the edge of the Bay of Islands. Where in the early 1800s it was a “dodgy” stop-off for whalers, escaped convicts and any others, to drink beyond redemption and lay with one of the brothels’ floozies, giving it its the name “Hell Hole of the Pacific”. Sounds like my sort of place. Apart from the "laying with floozies", obviously.

With an equally beautiful hotel, The Duke of Marlborough, which has "proudly served rascals and reprobates since 1837". Still sounds like my sort of place!

It is New Zealand's oldest licensed hotel and we were lucky enough to get to stay in it for two nights. Superbly restored but with a nod to its tumultuous past it is a fabulous place to stay. The town (or nearby) is also the site of New Zealand's first capital. So, lots of reasons to visit.

We were there with our friends Gareth and Sue, and their friends Phil and Sue. Our biggest group so far - which led, inexorably some might say, not to a cultural tour of the nearby sites, including the Waiting Treaty Grounds where the first treaty was signed between the Brits and the Maori, but to a boys day on the golf course! At least the golf was at Waitangi, and to be fair we had been to the Treaty Grounds before.

And the girls? They got to rest their ears and have a fabulous day walking to the lovely Haruru Water Falls, via a mangrove swamp. Looks like everyone had a good day! Well apart from the truly appalling golf on my part - but I long since stopped worrying about that.

Boardwalk across the swamp.

Walking the plank?

With one night spent sampling the local (ok, actually it was Otago, which is on the South Island) rather delicious Pinot Noir on a picnic table in the local campground and the other sampling the local quiz night at the Swordfish Club, we managed a pretty eclectic and throughlyly enjoyable couple of evenings as well. We even managed some pool - yes, of course I hit it as hard as I could and managed as usual to deposit the white behind the bar with one rather magnificent shot (though I say so myself). It should also be noted that the longest breaks were recorded by Sue and Sue. The boys were tired from their golf exertions - or just s**t.

But whatever, we had a marvellous couple of days in Russell. Thank you Gareth, Sue, Phil & Sue. Here are the happy gang.

And so, going backwards as usual, our trip north was first punctuated by a short stop at Gareth and Sue's place in Mangawhai, followed by what turned out to be a simply magnificent visit to the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangarei. I have no words to convey the creativity of his work, nor the single mindedness of his environmental cause, but, and I am embarrassed to say this, having never actually heard of him, I was absolutely gobsmacked by the art, the building in which it is housed and the aims of its "patron". If you have never heard of him either I recommend you look him up. My very brief analysis: A kind of Gaudi on speed. This is the outside of the Art Centre.

The gallery was magnificent and we could have stayed longer had we not arranged a lunch meet. Very reminiscent of Gaudi's house in Barcelona (at least to me) with even the garden atop the building and a strong emphasis on environmental issues in lots of Hundertwasser's art. We even bought a poster and it will proudly hang on our wall back home, once it has been framed. We just need to find some space.

The floor of the Art Centre. It is not level - any of it!

His model for a New Zealand Spiral monument. He believes the spiral is a key symbol of life and death.

It was never built but the Dutch have built a centre for those with social and learning needs in line with Hundertwasser's principles and according to his plan. Unfortunately it is private and you can't visit.

A sample of his environmental posters

And these are toilets he designed in Kawakawa, an hour or so north of Whangarei. Love them!

And inside. Thats twice I have managed to include a picture of a urinal in my NZ blog!

And then just to top off this part of the trip, a steam train trundles down the middle of the road in Kawakawa. Only in New Zealand!

From Russell we headed further north having been undecided until the last minute whether or not to strike out for the top of the island at Cape Reinga. Largely driven by my utterly pointless desire to reach the extremities of anywhere I am visiting, but with the bonus of being able to walk on the famous 90 mile beach on the way, we did eventually decide it would be worth it. And it turns out we were right. I had been warned by many that reaching Cape Reinga would feel like getting to Lands End in Cornwall - ie pointless, commercialised and ... well, crap! But it isn't. For a start nobody charges you a fee to take a picture at the finger post (yes, they really do that in Cornwall!), and there is a feeling of otherworldliness at Cape Reinga. Perhaps this is due to the meeting of two great seas (Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean), which you can just about make out on the video below.

Or perhaps it is because this is sacred ground to the Maori who believe it to be the place where all Māori spirits travel up the coast and over the wind-swept vista to the pohutukawa tree on the headland of Te Rerenga Wairua. They descend into the underworld (reinga) by sliding down a root into the sea below. The spirits then travel underwater to the Three Kings Islands where they climb out onto Ohaua, the highest point of the islands and bid their last farewell before returning to the land of their ancestors, Hawaiiki-A-Nui. Beyond the lighthouse, the headland is out of bounds to the living but that did not stop it being a place of great circumspection and reflection. Fabulous place and I am really glad we made the effort to go.

The headland from where spirits leave. Believe to or not the next landfall going pretty much north is Siberia!

And we did of course get pictures of us at the finger post. I do believe we a have matching one at Bluff at the bottom of the South Island. (And of course I have them of three idiots on motorbikes at John O'Groats)

And finally the lighthouse!

Walking on Ninety Mile Beach. Busy as you can see. We didn't walk the whole length of it! (although its apparently closer to 90km than 90 miles)

Yours truly. Walking barefoot on this sand is just lovely! And good for the foot!

It meant a bit of a long drive back to Mangonui on Doubtless Bay for the night but it was well worth it. And we still managed to get there in time for some great Thai food right on the waterfront. Who needs a plan when you have our luck! View from outside our hotel of Doubtless bay - so named by Captain Cook because, on passing he remarked, "doubtless that is a bay!" No s***, James. (or something like that - might be apocryphal)

A short stop at Ruakaka Beach for lunch on our way home. That's Bach Cafe, not Beach. Its actually short for Bachelor originally - usually seems to mean basic holiday home - often by the beach!

As you can see, its another terrible place

I wandered lonely as a cloud...

And so we are back in our temporary home in Mairangi Bay. A couple more days of wandering locally on the beaches and trying to stay out of the local bars (!). We have a Saturday evening planned with an old friend of Nareesa's in Auckland and a brief visit to Wellington next week. More of that later no doubt.

Thoughts are just starting to turn to home, even if it is still 10 days away, so as I start to reflect on the trip as a whole I am first of all thrilled to have managed 3 extended meetings with my old mate Jones while we have been in New Zealand. One at his home in Mangawhai, one at our "adopted home" in Mairangi Bay and one in Northland and especially the Bay of Islands. We said our farewells in Russell a couple of nights ago, but they are only for a short while as he is heading for the UK very soon and we will take up where we left off in late June. And this last paragraph gives me an excuse to post a video for which I've been threatened with grievous bodily harm. Ah, well, I'm brave, while Gareth is not here! To give you some idea of the idiocy. I feel no words are needed! Cheers! Or Skol, apparently! Gareth, its been fabulous to catch up. 40 years and still going strong!