Winter 2019 - NZ 4 Rest in Whangarei

NZ 4   Rest in Whangarei

Rain Is Coming But Most of It Missed Us

Ah those names! I cannot just look at those Maori names and read them, I need to stop, pause and kind of slowly spell them out in my mind. And the mixed history between the Maori and the Europeans who came to NZ all intertwine here. 

We had a great time at the Cape, walked all the way down to the tip of it, the lighthouse, despite some

We Eventually Went to Bluff - 1452 km.

heavenly dribbles. We also walked back later, battling the incline of the path on the way back up. We took a lot of breaks walking back from the lighthouse but after a while even with the breaks I needed a rest. There are no restaurants to sit and zone out in. This Cape Reinga is not your typical tourist area.

After the most Northern point on NZ, we drove to the town of Whangarei and picked a nice local hotel, which we

We Both Needed the Rest Stops on the Way Back Up

found just by accident. The Cypress Court Motel is a typical NZ motel and extremely nice. The proprietors even offered to serve us breakfast the next day and deliver it to our room. Naturally for a charge but it was a wonderful breakfast. We occupied for the night, a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a large bathroom. It was like a suite, just better, cozier. 

Cozy Room at the Cypress Court Motel

Whangarei is not a big town. Captain Cook landed here years ago. Coal was found in the hills nearby. Lumber was cut and shipped in the past and now it seems to be mostly an administrative town for the northern part of the North Island. Clay found near the mines led to the making of bricks, some limestone build-up on close Islands was used for Portland mortar or fertilizer, but over time, all the natural resources started to deplete. An oil refinery and the shipping of lumber from a larger area are still the most income-producing occupations for many today. There are dairy farms here that give NZ milk, butter and cheese.

 

Lots of Agriculture - Protected Fruit? Trees

This area around Whangarei is (was?) famous for the Gum Diggers. Kauri Gum is a hardened resin from the Kauri tree that fossilized over eons and is used in many ways, even today. It is akin to amber but different, since it is not as old as amber. The gum diggers were men who dug up the resin that fell off trees in small lumps and sold it to companies that made varnish or even jewelry or linoleum flooring. It is amazing to see the inventiveness of people who came to a new country. The Maori used the Kauri gum as a chewing gum or to glue things, but when the Europeans came they dug for the older stuff, resin that fell off the trees thousands of years ago, resin that was covered up over time and then started to fossilize. They exported it all over the world. The men dug, and dug and destroyed the land by doing it. Swamps were laid dry; hills were dug up, trees cut down, etc, just to get the gum. Tons of it was shipped worldwide. Until… it is depleted today, only gum from freshly cut, oozing Kauri Trees can be used today, this gum is called “Bush Gum” and it lacks the original, fossilized hardness of the old Kauri Gum.

Ah, the stories of NZ, we run into them no matter where we go. We had a good night’s rest.