The 2 Waipu monuments

Located in Waipu township are these 2 monuments next to the main road.  In 1913 a committee set up to oversee the future Waipu Diamond Jubilee celebrations for the original settlers and their descendants decided to pay for a memorial to commemorate the landing of the settlers who came there from Nova Scotia in 1854.  The preacher Norman McLeod led his followers from Scotland to Nova Scotia in 1817, then after encounting hardship they left for Australia then NZ. The monument on the left lists their names and dates and has a lion sitting at the top. (More information from the Northland History blog).

The one on the right is for those who fought in the First World War from 1914 to 1919, the Second World War from 1939 to 1945 and was erected on VE day 9 May 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War 2 in Europe.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World.

The Moa and the Kiwi

This week I have been busy at home starting the packing process, going through my linen cupboard to decide what we kept and what we really didn't need. There was no need to be ruthless we really did have alot of stuff. In the end I put things like sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers, dvd movies and kitchen appliances on local Facebook pages for people to pick up - let's just say each thing went very quickly.

Anyway last time we were in Waipu I spotted this wooden carving outside the local vets. Apparently in 2016 two gum trees which had grown too big were due to be cut down. One of the trees was carved into a dog but this one was carved into a large moa bird and a smaller kiwi next to it.

A chainsaw sculptor named Peter Hardie was responsible for the handywork and the locals of the town were very happy with the end result.

Linking up with My Corner of the World.

The book of secrets

I photographed these large Scottish Thistle flowers in Waipu recently - considering this town was originally founded by immigrants from Scotland it's quite fitting that these are growing in the center of town.

I've been putting down my laptop this week and trying to make an effort to get back into book reading. One I'm about halfway through is called "The Book of Secrets" by Fiona Kidman which is about this very subject, the first settlers to this area and how they came to be here.

"In 1854 a group of settlers, led by preacher Norman McLeod established a community in Waipu in the northern part of New Zealand. The community had followed him from Scotland in 1817 to found a settlement in Nova Scotia, then to Australia and finally to New Zealand. It is the story of 3 women entangled in the migrations".

Have you read anything worth sharing this week?

A dry Summer in Waipu

It's very very dry here, so dry that a total fire ban has been introduced recently.  We drove past the Waipu Cemetery yesterday, one of my favourite places full of old Scottish settlers to the area and saw these hay bales sitting on the brown grass.

Sometimes in Summer we get people calling the fire brigade even if someone has a barbeque going - in our town and many other smaller towns they have a volunteer fire brigade so anytime the siren wails the members have to put down whatever they are doing, even if they are working to go and respond to the emergency.

This year there hasn't thankfully been many times the siren has gone off, I guess the locals and holiday makers have finally gotten the message about what a fire ban means. Fingers crossed it continues until we get a good dose of rain.

Linking up with My Corner of the World and Skywatch Friday.

On a windy dusty road

This is one of the roads that turn off from the main road into our town, I've been wanting to stop and take a photo of the shed in particular and the daffodils for a while now but the wind has prevented me.

In the last 2 days we've had bad wind to the point where we had no electricity yesterday for 4 hours and apparently it wasn't just us, it also covered as far as Langs Beach and Waipu and back to Wellsford. It turned out to be a fallen tree that had bought some power poles down - credit to the guys who worked hard to fix it again.

Quite ridiculous but without electricity we were sort of at a loss, in the end I got a book I've been trying to get through and read some more of that but it makes you wonder how necessary it really is.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Waipu Winner!

I think this is one of the most interesting murals I've seen so far. This one in Waipu Cove painted by Daniel Mills is geared towards the history of the town. Apparently the artist took about 3 weeks to research and was painted in 2007 yet still looks almost new.

Waipu is one of those places in NZ that was settled by Scottish immigrants about 150 years ago and includes a portrait of Reverend Norman McLeod, includes Scottish tartan how the old stores would've looked.

The mural was designed with input from the Waipu Museum and apparently school groups are seen here using the art for history lessons.

Linking up with Mural Monday and Our World Tuesday.

Next up.....Waipu Caves

After visiting Langs beach the other half decided he wanted to visit the local Waipu Caves (pronounced why-poo). The entrance is off a long gravel road off the main State Highway north.

Surrounded by native bush, this area is frequented by cavers and people exploring inside which runs about 1km before it gets so narrow you can't go any further.

It was so dark inside that we found it extremely difficult to photograph even with torches so the flash sadly was used in each one.

The inside consists of different caves, puddles of water, limestone, dolomite and gypsum formations and tunnels. This area is of special significance to Maori as it was probably used for ceremonies.

There are walks and tracks outside too and lead up to views over Bream Bay and the Whangarei harbour.

The road out looking out over the whole countryside is covered in expansive harbour views and farmland. I think although this time we had good footwear (I had on gumboots) and torches if we go back there at any point we would need perhaps to be a bit more experienced in caving.