Paihia Wharf - Pai here

Only a small portion of Paihia wharf but interestingly when I looked up the history here's what I found:

The origin of the name "Paihia" is unclear. A popular attribution, most likely apocryphal, is that when Reverend Henry Williams first arrived in the Bay of Islands searching for a location for his mission station, he told his Māori guide, "Pai here," meaning "Good here," as his Māori vocabulary was limited.

The town has evolved over the last nearly 200 years, from here to Russell it was known as the "hell hole of the Pacific" but now it is a popular tourist destination with many residents living here as well as restaurants, bars, shops, b & bs, hotels etc. 

This photo was taken last weekend but since then we have had 3 new positive cases of Covid turn up in Auckland which in turn lead to the city going into level 3 lockdown for 3 days with the rest of the country into level 2 (we are currently in level 1). Since then there have been no other cases and so everyone has now moved back to the levels they were previously on with the alert being taken off. 

It seems Summer is nearly at an end with cooler temperatures and nicer nights, I'm looking forward to Autumn.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday, The Weekend Roundup and Weekend Reflections.

Pakaraka Holy Trinity Church

Recently on a drive home from Paihia we took a different route than we normally take and stopped to explore this church in Pakaraka.

The Pakaraka Holy Trinity Church was built around 1850-51 by missionary Henry Williams and was opened in 1873.

The first and third sons of Henry and his wife Marianne farmed here in this area for many years. I don't know about you but those stained glass windows are awesome are they not?

Henry was the leader of the Church Missionary Society mission in NZ in the first half of the 19th century. He entered the royal navy at 14 years old and came here in 1823. The Bay of Islands Maori people gave him the name Karu-wha (meaning four eyes) as he wore spectacles but he was known more widely as Te Wiremu (Wiremu being the maori form of William).

The church and entrance (as above) are gothic in style, there is a slim steeple and the original tower apparently blew down in 1946 but was replaced in 2001. Henry's best tribute was in 1867 on the day he died 2 local tribes had planned a battle to settle a land dispute.

The old man's well respected mana (meaning power) that when the warriors heard the news both sides put their weapons down and joined the mourners.

Linking up with Wednesday around the world and Our World Tuesday.