In the clouds

This is the main highway between Taupo and Napier, we drove up through mountains so high that it felt like we were driving in the clouds. 

Lots of Autumn colours and a bit of a drop in a cooler temperature, apparently the road use to be a very windy gravel one that took alot longer, B remembers being in the car with his parents in the 1960s and 1970s when they lived in Whakatane and had to drive to Napier to visit his grandad.

 

All up it took us about 90 minutes for the drive when it use to take at least 2 hours or more before this part of the road was made.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Timeless Thursdays.

Time to cross

In 1840 having settled upon Auckland as the site of the capital for the new colony Governer William Hobson secured a 3000 block of land for the government. It was purchased from local chiefs and included the northern part of the suburb of Mt Eden. The following year a 13,000 acre block was purchased by the crown. Once surveyed and divided the land was subsequently offered for sale and gradually the trappings of colonial life grew upon the landscape. 

We were driving through Mount Eden, a suburb in Auckland earlier this week. There are a lot of old buildings in this city that were built near the turn of the 20th century, what I like is that there are so many that are still being used today instead of being pulled down. 

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Timeless Thursdays.

Kamokamo and Kumara

 Another street/shop view in Kaikohe - this time it's a corner shop that sells vegetables. This one has signs selling Kumara for in $3 packs and Kamokamo in $20 packs. If you are unfamiliar with Southern Hemishere vegetables I'll do my best to explain what these 2 are. 

Kamokamo is kind of like a type of Squash or Butternut, it is  like a pumpkin - it's very yummy whatever way it's cooked, I like to add it to either Winter soups or a Roast Pork/Chicken dinner. Kumara is like a type of sweet Potato and is used in much the same way but it was bought here over 1000 years ago by early Maori settlers from the Pacific Islands. 

Worth trying if you can. 

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

Over the fence

 Last time I drove through Okaihau, a local town about 20 minutes from here opposite our local cemetery after I parked my car I spotted these 2 workmen fixing a fence at the edge of a Kiwifruit farm.  They were there for quite a while and to me it looks like they are nailing some material at the top to protect the crop from prevailing winds in the Winter.

Linking up with Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday. 

Pohui-nui Pa Site

Every time I drive through Kaeo I've wanted to stop and take a photo of this mountain but recently I wrangled my camera to get a shot as we drove past. Pohui-nui Pa site is just on the edge of town and you can see the layers that have been dug down the side of the hillside. 

 This particular pa site use to be fortified belonging to the Ngati Uru Tribe who arrived in Whangaroa around 1770-1775 having been drive out of the Rawhiti area of the Bay of Islands. 

As an example the pa site could've looked something like this - the layers were built into the hill to make it harder for the enemies to climb and easier for the occupatns to see who was coming up.

Linking up with Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday. 

Walk up to Akeake Pa Site

On Tuesday morning after B had gone to work I drove out to Opito Bay (our fishing launching spot for our boat) with the intention of exploring the nature walk there that leads to the Ake Ake Pa Site. Most nature walks managed by our Department of Conservation are dog free because of the kiwis that live in this area.

These are the first lot of steps at the start of the nature walk, weirdly enough it was at this spot I felt a sharp stabbing pain on the front of my ankle. I looked down, opened my sock and found a wasp hanging off my skin trying to sting me. After swiping it away the pain continued for another 15 minutes then gradually eased off - luckily I'm not allergic to insect stings.

This was looking back after the 2nd set of stairs - quite a nice even pathway uphill.

I was the only one there so it was so nice and peaceful even with the sound of Tuis singing away and the odd Fantail flitting around me curiously.

On my journey around the loop I counted about 6 possum traps all up. Possums here are not native, they were introduced through colonisation but now unfortunately they eat the native trees and plants so they are definitely not wanted.

At one pointed I saw this whiteboard leaning against a tree written by a Department of Conservation worker about some of the other traps that people had stolen.

After a 15 minute walk I reached the lookout point at the top of the Pa Site - amazing views looking out over the peninsula. The water is still still like a mirror - it would've a perfect day's fishing out there.

This part is the Tareha lookout point and offers views also over the Te Puna Inlet, Motupapa Island, Moturoa Island and the Kent Passage.

The original people of this Pa (maori village or defensive settlement) interacted with the earliest missionaries who sailed past on the way to the Kerikeri Mission Station (Store Store and Kemp House).

A chief named Tareha was an ally of Hongi Hika (who cut the flagpole down at Waitangi) gave his support to the local missionaries. He was well known for his bravery and skill in leading the warriors into battle.

He was also known for his huge size being a big man and large appetite. When missionary Samuel Marsden invited him on board his ship "Dromedary" there was not a large enough chair for him to sit in.

The first locality to attract the early whalers was the Te Puna area (near the river inlet), Chief Akeake would have contact with the traders through observation from the Pa.

Not much fungi up there but it's possibly the wrong time of year as we are in very early Autumn so maybe in a month or so there may be more.

Linking up with Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday. 

Moerewa Meanderings

The main street of Moerewa, a service town for the surrounding farming industry in between Kawakawa and Kerikeri. It's main industry though is the local freezing works AFFCO but during the economic slump of the 1980s many of the town's other industries were badly affected and unemployment soared leading to the town's population falling. In 2018 the last census recorded that there were 1632 people living there with 90% Maori, 22% Pakeha, 6% Pacifica, 1% Asian.

See that red car on the right? That is our road patrol section of national Police cars, they are the people who drive along the highways looking out for accidents and speeding vehicles.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Timeless Thursdays.

Motuotau Island skies

 

For us in the Southern Hemisphere today is Christmas Eve - depending where you are in the world we are about a day ahead. Traffic has been bumper to bumper and very slow, supermarkets have been chaotic and people are out and about doing last minute shopping. 2 of my elderly clients (a couple) presented me with a beautiful sheer Summer scarf as thanks for me helping them - made me feel very thankful and I will definitely use it.

While searching for some calm photos in my archives I found this one from when we lived in Mount Maunganui about 3 years ago. This is one of the many paths to the beach and in the distance is the Motuotau Island which was once the scene of a massacre. Confiscated from local iwi after the 1864 Battle of Gate Pa, the island was returned and then later purchased by the Crown. Today the island is a wildlife sanctuary and home to 500 little blue penguins.

I hope you have an awesome Christmas wherever you are, stay safe, kia kaha.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday.

Giant Marlin in Paihia

 I've seen this sculpture of a Marlin in Paihia many times but after taking this photo of it last week I thought I would do some research into it. Apparently a family named "Fuller" of the "Fuller's Cruises" here in NZ donated it in 2017 and pays homage to the fishing industry here in the far north. 

Marlin are a type of big game fish up here and you need a really big strong rod with lots of patience to reel them in. I've never caught one but New Zealand ones can get to between 70 and 220kg with a length of up to 4 metres. The heaviest ever caught was 224.1kg here in the Bay of Islands.

btw that's my daughter in the photo 😊

Linking up with Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday.

Christmas letterboxes

On my travels this week I drove down a road filled with festively decorated letterboxes. These are just a few of the ones I got photos of. Enjoy...

 Linking up with Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday.

Christmas tree competition

Last night I drove down to one of our local real estate offices where they have a Christmas tree outside on the pavement covered with lights, apparently our town is holding a competition for all local businesses to see who has the best decorated tree. I'll try and take some more photos of what other shops have up.

We have had alot going on here, 2 days ago on the 1st of December was officially our first day of Summer and I'm wondering what this season will bring. I'm hoping that our neighbour Australia doesn't have bush fires this year as bad as last year. 3 of us have been down with a nasty flu and we've had to take time off work. I heard through a friend that her baby has it and the place I use to work has alot of their workers still at work sniffing sneezing with the same thing. It makes me wonder why people insist on going out and about when they are sick, surely in this age of covid you would expect them to be a bit more conscious. Our government is planning on extending the annual amount of paid sick days from 5 to 10 - I'm pleased about that. 

One thing that has been a surprise is that B and I have been talking about a possible move to Perth in Australia. His daughter has been living there for about 3 years and has just bought her first house. The house prices here are astronomically high, the average 3 bedroom house in our town is about $600,000 and you have to have a decent deposit to buy something like that whereas the one she bought is roughly half that amount and it's very nice. We will see what happens with Covid over the next year but we will still look into the logistics of it even though it would be a major move...

Lastly I have to introduce you to an animal friend of mine. One of my clients that I visit weekly has a Black Labrador named Cleo. Recently Cleo's mum was in hospital having an operation and when she came home I bought a soft toy whale for her to play with (Cleo not her mum). Each time I go there she insists I throw it around for her outside and gets very excited.

Kia kaha, linking up with Skywatch Friday and Timeless Thursdays.

Traditional fishing at Quince's Landing

Along a very narrow bumpy track on the outskirts of town is this space - Quinces Landing as it's called was a small bay once used by both Maori and Pakeha to catch fish. From what I saw the ground was littered with oyster shells so I'm assuming there is an oyster farm somewhere out in the water.

 In 2017 Heritage NZ organized an event for people to enjoy a live archaeological experience which involved not just using a traditional stone fish trap but also learning other skills such as making a knife out of obsidian to cut and scale the fish which I think would be mostly Snapper.

Linking up with Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday.

Edited to add: because I receive a regular amount of anonymous spam comments I've disabled anonymous people being able to comment.