January 22 - Time to board the ship

It’s Monday morning here. Already I’m having trouble knowing what day of the week it is.  I had another good sleep and in a little while a car will take me to the Seabourn Odyssey.

I’ll tell you now about my afternoon yesterday.  All 13 of us decided to continue on following the morning tour.  Our driver Jason was to have left us at a stop on Queen Street and give us into the hands of a new driver Chris and a guide Mairie.  Unfortunately they were stuck in traffic because many of the streets were closed by a massive protest downtown.  Three guesses what the protest was about.  If you guessed pro-Palestine and Houthis you get a grand prize!  So Jason began the afternoon’s drive.

We headed west out of Auckland toward the coast.  Auckland is a unique city because it has two harbours, one leading out to the Pacific and one to the Tasman Sea with nothing between NZ  and Australia.  Our drive took us through the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park.  It’s composed of about 70 square miles of forests where the government is trying to restore forest that had been disappearing and also trying to eliminate pests which were brought to the country and are eating the eggs and chicks of native birds thus endangering them.  The Waitakere Range are a mountain barrier separating Auckland City from the Tasman Sea.  The highest point over 1500 feet.

In the far distance is the Tasman Sea, the body of water between New Zealand and Australia and reputed to be one of the roughest in the world.  We shall see in a few days.

Some of the scenery along the way

Interestingly, much of New Zealand was deforested, first by the Maori who were boat builders and then by the Europeans who came next.  There is a big effort to reforest, so much of what we passed through was new growth.  Our first stop was the Arataki Visitors Center.  Arataki is a Maori word meaning “Pathway to Learning.”   The building is built of Kauri wood in the traditional Maori style of a great house.  In front is a tall pou, a Maori totem pole, with carvings of important Maori ancestors.  They are all men and very fearsome looking.  In the little museum inside there were some female carvings.  Jason told us that when Maoris fought battles (they were evidently a pretty bellicose people), the men would be in front throwing rocks and brandishing clubs.  The women were behind throwing curses. Apparently the curses were just as feared as the more physical things.

The great house at the Aratiki Visitor Centre

The Great Ancestors on the pou, totem pole.  If you look you can clearly see they are all men.

The pathway to Learning with the names of the five ancestors

There was a nice view from the path by the center of the shoreline with the Tasman Sea.  Some of the group took a walk through the rainforest.  A couple of us stayed behind and watched a lovely video about the area.  In addition to the Kauri trees, the forest has lots of very large ferns, a few palms, and Pohutukawa trees which are called New Zealand’s Christmas trees because they bloom with massive red flowers in December.  The forest is full of a variety of birds and these pests which are being eradicated.  They include rats, rabbits, pigs, ferrets, weasels and possums.  Some of the latter were brought in to get rid of the first couple.  The plan didn’t work; they all just multiplied.  The hope now is that they’ll be eliminated by 2050.

A pohutakawa tree in bloom

From Arataki we drove on winding roads to the west shore.  We had to take a detour because last January the North Island was hit first with massive rain; in 6 hours they received the equivalent of a year’s worth.  Immediately following they were hit with a cyclone, their name for a hurricane.  In Auckland there was massive flooding and in the mountains there were lots of landslides so roads are still under repair.  

Along the way we passed through what was New Zealand’s first wine country.  It was settled in the early 20th century by Croatians who planted vineyards.  Eventually those disappeared and were replaced with large orchards of pear, apple and plum trees.  Those are gone now and what’s left are small farms.  

A view of the western shore from the high road

Piha or Lion's Rock

Piha Beach

We made our way down to  Piha, a village and black sand beach on the Tasman Sea.  Piha in Maori means “the wave coming off the bow of a ship.”  A distinctive sight on the beach is a massive rock, Piha rock or the Lion Rock because some people think it looks like a recumbent lion.  The beach is black and Mairie had two large magnets with her which she put in the sand and when she picked them up they were covered in black sand.  Because of the iron people have to be careful when they walk barefooted because the sand gets so hot it can burn one’s feet.  Piha is a big surfing beach and there were a few surfers out looking for the next big wave.

Our driver and guide offered us some tea or juice, cookies and a taste of Makuna honey.  It’s a honey from here in NZ which has both anti-biotic and anti-fungal properties and so is very healthy.  It was delicious!  After a little interlude we headed back through the winding mountain roads and arrived back in Auckland.

I think I should say a few words about the name of this place.  The first Englishman who signed a treaty in the 1840’s had been mentored by the man who was Viceroy of India.  His surname was Eden but he was the Earl Of Auckland.  In honor of his mentor, the place was named Auckland and around here there is a Mt. Eden.  The original capital was further north in a town that had the nickname of “the hellhole of the Pacific.”  The British didn’t want their capital known as that so they moved it here and established this city.

New Zealand had an election last year and the government changed from being ultra-liberal to very conservative. Of the Kiwis I have spoken with I’ve heard people who are skeptical of the new regime and those who are welcoming it.  I guess time will tell what’s better.  Since I’m always interested in more practical things I asked about income and taxes.  Apparently the average income is between NZ $48,000 and NZ $68,000 and the taxes on that bracket are about 28%.  There is a GST tax on everything, including food; that’s like the VAT tax in Europe. There is a National Health Service which is evidently pretty good for routine things, but if you need something like a knee or hip replacement you can wait a long time to get it.  That’s the same thing I’ve heard about other countries with national health care.

That’s about all for now.  I need to get ready to go to my home for the next 110 days.  I’ll check in later.