We woke this morning to rain, on the day that we were scheduled to explore Russell, the first capitol of New Zealand, followed by a boat trip in the Bay of Islands out to the Hole in the Rock, a famous landmark that Jim and I bought a painting of in 1999 when we visited for our honeymoon. Rain -- heavy at times -- and winds in the 20s were forecast for the day.
We took a ferry from Paihia to Russell, which is on an island and only accessible by boat. Rain intercepted us as we landed and made a dash for our small tour bus. I was glad I had my longer rain coat and added my rainpants on the buss.
We drove slowly past the historic homes on the seashore and learned about the history of Russell. New Zealand was first seen by Europeans when Abel Tasman found it in 1642, but he avoided landing when the beach had hundreds of Maori warriors waiting for him. More than a hundred years later, James Cook landed at a number of locations and the first European settlers arrived here in Russell in 1814.
It was a lawless place with brothels and bars and no police force for quite some time. It was populated by whalers, seafarers, escaped Australian convicts
Europeans kept coming and when the French arrived, they slaughtered the indiginous population to the point that the Maori turned to the British for help. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in English and Maori in 1840. (We will learn more about this treaty tomorrow.) Unfortunately, the two versions did not match. The Maori version said the original peoples would be treated as equals to the English (which frankly is very different from how the English treated every other culture they encountered) while the English version said the Maori were to be subjugated to the English (which is how the English really treated everybody).
It didn't take long for the Maori to discover that equality wasn't quite what the English had in mind, especially as more English arrivals focused on taking over the trading opportunities that the Maori had seen as their right.
After our drive along the beach, we headed to Flagstaff Hill, where the English flag had been erected. In 1845, a Maori chief took exception to their treatment by the English and chopped the flag down. The English brought in more soldiers and put it back up. The Maori chief cut it down 3 more times. Each time, more soldiers and another flag arrived. Finally there were 1500 English soldiers, and the chief managed to convince 2 competing tribes to join him and amassed army of 850 warriors who soundly trounced the English and burned the town completely down. Unfortunately for the Maori, this was not the end of the English occupation.
We visited another few locations around the island and returned to our starting point, where Rod announced yet another change to our itinerary. Our cruise to the Hole in the Rock has been cancelled for today because of the high winds and rain storm and rescheduled for tomorrow, which is forecast to be substantially sunnier and less windy and rainy. We grabbed a light lunch at a delicious hole in the wall as we waited for our boat back to the mainland. We also had a bit of wait for the shuttle to the hotel and managed to find a few more gifts.
We returned to our hotel before 2pm and started to work on our blogs (and the bottle of wine purchased this morning). A quiet day is well-appreciated and allowed me to confirm that my note to terminate my lease early and move to Illinois was accepted. It is sunny now (after a brief hail storm earlier) and our boat trip, where I intend to cast a Jim marble into the Hole in the Rock, memorializing our honeymoon here, should be a much more pleasant experience than it would have been today. And it has the advantage of being only 1 day off our 24th anniversary.
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