Tuesday 8th February

Tuesday 8^th February

Today was a lie in.  We were not due to leave until 9.15 am.  Hurray!!

Our first stop was within walking distance of the hotel but the coach took us there.  It was the Waitangi Treaty Ground where the Maoris and the English had signed a treaty 151 years ago on February 6^th which was the founding document of the nation.  Here we visited the Treaty House, the house of James Busby (no Bryony, not Hal!) who was the Governor at the time the treaty was signed and walked through the lovely grounds overlooking the bay, seeing a Maori meeting house and Wakas (war canoes).

We then said our farewells to the Bay of Islands and headed South for Whangarei for our lunch stop at this charming City.  At the so called Town Basin there were hundreds of small cruisers, lot of bars, cafes and restaurants, not to mention the numerous gift shops.

After lunch we drove further south to the Parry Kauri Park in Wellsford.  The township was originally called Albertstown but after the First World War the locals wanted to remove any trace of the Germans and so balloted the town’s people for a name.  The family name Wells was chosen as they had been one of the first settlers in the region.  The park is an area of woodland preserved for the people.  We had a walk around the tropical rainforest and that gave us quite a work out as it was up and down steep walkways.  We hadn’t been given long at the stop and only just made it back to the coach for the designated departure time and did not have time to read the notes about the trees.  We did hear a cacophony of sound from crickets and birds including the difficult to see Tui or parson bird.

Then it was back to Auckland to the Mercure Hotel.  A walk around the town to buy a charger, with a USB end, for the video camera and then into dinner.

Many of the group are leaving us tomorrow, including our Square Dancing friends, Mervyn and Jeannie, and we will have 25 new faces joining us.

While we have been here we have learnt some useful facts. 

One is that one of the native trees to New Zealand is the Manuka Tree.  It is reported that Captain Cook observed the Maoris boiling up the leaves of this tree to make a drink.  He tried it and declared that it was a good substitute for tea, although a little sweeter, and so he called it the Tea Tree.  It is from this tree that we now get the fantastic Tea Tree Oil that is known to have so many healing properties.  Also in the summer the bees love the flowers on the tree and they produce the famous Manuka Honey.

Another is that the New Zealanders have managed to breed some new sheep.  One breed is such that they do not have to dye the wool after it is sheared!

Another breed, pictured below, produces incredible wool.  Can you guess what it is?

Of course, it is Steel Wool!