18 Sept: Whangerai to Aroha

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Whangerai Falls

An extra-value day started with a look at Whangerai Falls. Here's the top.

Here's Marian scoping out the bottom.

Quite a nice falls.

Hunterwasser Toilets

Freidensreich Hunterwasser was a well-known Austrian artist and architect who made New Zealand his home. In the 1970s the village of Kawakawa commissioned him to design a public toilet, and he created a landmark that brings tourists to the town still. Here are a few snaps.

The street front:

Seen in the ladies' side:

Part of the mens' side:

Base of a lamp-post across the street:

Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand. Negotiated between a representative of Queen Victoria and a collection of Maori chiefs, it made New Zealand part of the British Empire, and made the Maori British citizens with full civil rights and participation in the government (a major difference from the nearly sub-human status accorded the Aborigines of Australia). Some of the Maori rights tended to be forgotten with time, but in the 1970s activists, and some crucial court cases, restored full civil equality between the races.

The place where the Treaty was negotiated and signed is a national memorial, reminiscent to an American of Independence Mall in Philadelphia.

The thing to see there is the great waka or war canoe, over 100 feet long, that is kept there. Just our luck, it was all wrapped in tarps while its garage was re-roofed. All we got to see was a short video on the building and sailing of the big waka.

So we took a few pictures of the big Maori meeting house that's been built on the site.

Aroha Island

Finally, on to Aroha Island Nature Preserve. Like Tiritiri Matangi it is a refuge for native New Zealand birds, especially the Kiwi. It's a beautiful little place with pleasant trails along a beach and through native woodlands. We are the only campers, we have it all to ourselves! On an afternoon walk we saw a Fantail and a Pied Shag, the latter sitting still long enough for a pic.

We had been told to watch the ground for the holes the Kiwi pokes in the forest soil with its beak, and we spotted several.

The Kiwi is nocturnal. One of the staff loaned us a red-light flashlight so we could go Kiwi-stalking in the darkness. We tried it but wimped out after stumbling around for 10 minutes and not getting far from the campsite. Mind you, this is the middle of the woods, the only light from the stars and a little red flashlight. And so to bed; a long day tomorrow.