Duck!

Earlier this week towards the evening I was down at our local historical stone store with my daughter teaching her how to drive, this was the view from the wharf where my car was parked.

Just as we were about to leave, more cars parked and suddenly about 50 different kinds of ducks came waddlng out from the water very noisily talking to each other.  They must've thought that if they came out of hiding perhaps they'd get fed.

This week is being very quiet for my household. We are all under a 7 day isolation as my youngest son has tested positive for Covid after catching it from a work colleague. So far he has what seems to be a classic type of flu but my daughter and I we have tested negative although we seem to have different symptoms to him such as feeling tired, sore throat, headache and aching. B hasn't got any symptoms at all though - go figure, so we are all finding different things to do without getting bored. It seems that Covid is racing through our town but at least come April the mandates will be gone and there will be no need for vaccine passes or scanning in when you enter businesses although mask wearing will still be required. Hopefully next week we will be out and about again.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Edmond's Ruins

Last weekend we ventured out to a local historical place called "Edmond's Ruin Historic Reserve" about 15 minutes out of Kerikeri.

There is the remains of a stone house, stone walls and various citrus trees, native trees and shrubs.

John Edmonds was an Englishman who came here from Worcestor and was sent here by the Christian Missionary Society to build the Stone Store. The Missionaries weren't told about this and instead ended up employing William Parrot, a stonemason from Sydney, Australia.

In 1837-1838 John Edmonds, embarrassed about the omission bought about 2,700 acres on both sides of the Kerikeri River and wrote that it was "covered in ferns, volcanic stones, swamps, rough grass and very little wood.

Sometime between 1841 and 1859 he built a stone house which had walls that were over half a metre thick. It was approx 38 foot long and 28 foot wide, it had a large lounge and a big open fireplace, bedroom, kitchen with a stone oven.

Opposite the kitchen door was another smaller building with a fireplace and a stone wash basin. The roof was made of shingles, he named his house "Belle Vue" after his home in England.


John Edmonds and his sons worked the property and created an orchard, a garden and a vegetable garden. Unfortunately around 1885-1886 it was believed that one of his boys was supervising a controlled scrub fire/burn off and the sparks from this spread to the roof thus destroying the house of which the ruins are still there today.

Autumn at The Stone Store

We were out and about this morning enjoying the fresh Autumn air, not too hot not too cold and I felt this shot expressed what an awesome view this is of the Kerikeri Stone Store, St James Church and the Kemp Mission House.

This is the location where missionaries James Kemp, Francis Hall and John Butler lived, taught and preached as well as farmed and gardened. According to Maori historians, Ngati Miru, the people who first lived in this area were attacked and driven away by a war party of Ngapuhi.

I hope you enjoy your weekend :-)

Kerikeri River Falls

Another local waterfall (I think there are 8 in total) we've discovered on our treks around this area is this one - the Kerikeri River Falls Track.  This one is near the Stone Store and took us about 20 minutes in total to walk there, very pretty and quiet considering it's so close to town.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Historical Kororipo Pa

Near Kerikeri's Stone Store is this historic gem - the Kororipo pa site was once occupied by some of the Hongi Hika and Rewa's people (Ngapuhi) in the 1820s. This was once a stockaded fortress and used as a port to collect shellfish, seafood and a place to store  their canoes.

This area was previously occupied by another tribe called Ngati Miru until they were attacked by the Ngapuhi.

Kororipo - meaning Waha-o-teriri (mouth of war) is now under the protection of NZ's Department of Conservation and it is a popular tourist spot.

Hongi Hika and his people left Kerikeri for Whangaroa at the end of 1826 and after being hurt in battle in 1827 died in 1828. In 1830 Rewa and his people left Kerikeri to live at Russell then Kororipo became deserted. Rewa sold 7 acres to James Kemp in 1831 to become part of his farm and mission station and in 1838 the remaining 6 acres were also sold to James Kemp by Hongi's sons Hongi and and Puru. This 6 acres was gifted to the nation by E.S. Little in the 1950s.

It's a gardener's day

Photo taken near the Stone Store and Kemp Mission House in Kerikeri on a typical Spring day.

Winter always likes to throw out one last cold blast and that is exactly what we have coming today. Hopefully it's over and done with quickly so we can get on with warmer weather.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

As you wish...

So it seems Kerikeri has a wishing well. So what would you wish for? I'm not sure I'd wish for anything really. Maybe enough money to be comfortable in life so I could share it around but then money isn't everything is it?

You may have noticed with commenting on my posts that I've changed it to word verification and moderating? Lately I've been having to deal with quite a few spam comments so for the time being I felt it was best to activate these two features.

Remember a while back I mentioned that I had taken a DNA test through Ancestry.com? And at the time the results had mentioned some Spanish/Portuguese ancestry on my mum's side? Well a few weeks ago my results were updated, apparently their tools they use for testing have been able to narrow down exactly the regions where her grandfather came from - it wasn't Spain or Argentina as we originally thought - it was actually China and the Philippines. Now that I think about it, it really doesn't surprise me because after I went looking through some old photos of other relatives and those who have passed I can see the Asian influence. The rest of Mum's side has been confirmed as a mixture of Irish/Scottish/Swedish and Dad's side has been confirmed as being Jewish/English - what a combination! Quite funny how it's turned out...

The old Kerikeri Stone Store

The old Kerikeri Stone Store was designed by a Wesleyan missionary named John Hobbs and built by William Parrot who was a convict between 1832 and 1836. .

It's purpose was to hold supplies for the Waimate Mission Farm but it was mainly leased as a Kauri Gum Store. The building is made of sandstone, local volcanic rocks and burnt shell mortar.

By the mid 1830's the store couldn't compete with local traders and it was then converted into a mission library then taken over by Governor George Grey for use as a gun barracks during the Flagstaff War.

Finally it was used as a boys school then sold to the Kemp family in 1874 as a general store. Now these days it's being used as a tourist attraction and to sell mostly Kiwiana products old and new.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday.