Holiday: Day 10 – Treaties and Tongues!

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07.00am: Morning Readers! Thanks for all the likes and comments – and your continued readership! It’s very much appreciated👍😁

It’s slightly cooler this morning, but 20℃ will do us nicely! 😎😎

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Day 10 – Where are we?
(Friday, 8th November)

11.15am: A later start to the day for us today! This is our first full day in the town of Paihia and we have our cultural heads on, heading for the world-famous Waitangi Treaty Grounds. You can read more about it here, but in a nutshell, it’s considered to be ‘the birthplace of the New Zealand nation’. It was just a short five-minute drive away where the Sun was now out – and much warmer than the weather forecast (more like 25℃!) ☀️☀️😎😎

11.31am: We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we arrived, but it turned out to be a VERY comprehensive experience! 👍. At 140NZD (£32 each), it was the most expensive entrance fee this holiday, but afterwards, we felt it was great value.

With about 25 minutes to go before the official tour began at Noon, we took some time to look around the on-site Museum of Waitangi. It was packed with information relating to this country’s pivotal Treaty of Waitangi viewed from differing perspectives, mainly through documentation and illustrations.

There was so much to see here, we had to cut it short so that we were on time for the Official Tour.

TODAY’S TRIVIA: New Zealand has the highest ratio of sheep to people than anywhere else in the world.
It’s estimated that there are currently 29.5 million sheep in the country and only 4.7 million residents.

After an introduction to New Zealand’s earliest history, where we learned (amongst many other things) that there have only been inhabitants here for a mere 700 years!

Our first stop was at the ‘great kauri’ – the biggest tree-stump I think we’ve ever seen! It was used, in part, to construct, the famous ceremonial war canoe aka ‘Ngatokimatawhaorua‘ shown below (aka the ‘Ceremonial Waka’).

Incredibly, the canoe still functions and is crewed once a year on the anniversary of the Treaty being signed (6 February, 1840) where, manned by around 100+ volunteers and dignitaries, we’re told it can reach speeds of around 27 knots!

More history of New Zealand followed as Sisi continued to lead us around the site. Our next call was at the Treaty House, where the famous Treaty document was signed in the former house of the British Resident in New Zealand, James Busby.

12.55pm: Our penultimate stop was at ‘Te Whare Runanga’ (Meeting House).

After a brief introduction to the history of this rebuilt Maori building, we were invited inside – but there was a catch! One of us was going to be chosen to be ‘King’ and the ‘locals’ were about to greet us formally! As usual, the poor unsuspecting visitor who was right at the front of our group was picked – and he looked frightened to death!

1.05pm: It was some greeting! Very noisy, lots of eye contact – and plenty of tongues! 😲😉. With the initial ceremony over, we were invited to remove our shoes, hats AND sunglasses and step inside. Sadly, they didn’t allow any photography once we were all seated, but it was a real treat! Consisting of Maori songs and rituals, it was delivered with passion, pride and enthusiasm – and where our ‘King’ was asked to give a speech on behalf of us all (now, he had every reason to look petrified!). Actually, he did a really good job! 👍

After the performance finished, we were invited to take photographs of the carved and highly decorative interior…

1.40pm: …and then ‘Meet the Maoris’ outside for some group shots (tongues optional!) 😋

1.50pm: Our final stop was at ‘The Price of Citizenship‘ exhibition.

It portrayed the commitment of the Maoris during the time of war – and commemorated those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Just like our first stop here at the Museum of Waitangi, this had been painstakingly researched and was all presented in an easy-to-follow fashion. Photography – out of respect – was restricted in the memorial area but elsewhere, there was a significant amount of detail to absorb. This alone, was worth the visit! 👏👏

All-in-all this had been a very interesting and educational visit. We had spent so much time looking around the site itself, we almost forgot about the stunning views out to see, so I’ll just leave these here…

2.25pm: Back to reality as we dropped into nearby Woolworth’s to pick up a few foody bits! 😋😋

Tomorrow, it’s our last full day in Paihia, where we’re heading out to sea again – to Russell – famous for being the first permanent European settlement & seaport in New Zealand.