New Zealand

January 30, Waitangi (Bay of Islands)

“We welcome you once, we welcome you twice, we welcome you three times.” So began the Māori greeting to the group of 61 people who signed up for the canoe expedition. These were catamaran canoes: two connected boats that collectively could hold about 40 people, with rowers on the inside and outside (er, medial and lateral) of each boat. The Māori people we were with are part of New Zealand’s largest tribe, the Ngāpuhi. 

It was a beautiful day! Warm but not hot, and not overly humid. Brilliant blue sky with just a few clouds. Calm, pale green water. Topography with green-covered hills. Birds flying and swimming. A great day to explore a tidal estuary! 

Prior to the welcoming ceremony we chose a chief (I did not volunteer this time), selected a song to sing (“Sweet Caroline”), and walked over the grass where a group of Māori — mostly men and one woman (at least some and perhaps all of whom were related) — were waiting for us. They performed a Haka, chanted, spoke, and then did another dance. Then our chief spoke, identified us as being from our ship, and led us in two rounds of the first part of the chorus (“Sweet Caroline, bum bum bum, Good times never seemed so good, so good, so good”).

There was lots of paddling instruction on land. Eventually we loaded into the canoes and there was one more blessing. The patriarch of the Māori family provided a several-minute-long genealogical lesson that sounded like this, albeit with Māori names: “Tom had a son John who had a son Mike who had a daughter Ann who had a son … [until many generations later he reached the ending] … who had a son Steve. He was my father.” 

And with that, we started moving. 

It’s easy to imagine how a well-conditioned and practiced group could have traveled across the ocean in those boats centuries ago (and unfortunate that Polynesian boating expertise wasn’t adopted by other cultures much sooner). First we paddled to the rhythm of “paddle, tap, paddle, tap,” then we progressed to the Māori equivalent of sea shanties where the leader in each boat sang something and we repeated it. There was the tourist gimmick of doing a mini-Haka to others who passed by which was entertaining. 

Lots of question and answer, generally on breaks from paddling — though after the fist few minutes the Yamaha motor was employed a lot. We heard some Māori creation stories, heard about the NZ educational system (our boat’s guide had attended a Māori-language school), received lots of information and stories about the flora and fauna, and so much more. 

We saw pied cormorants, other cormorants, ducks, seagulls, gum trees, mangrove swamps, silver leaf ferns, and so much more en route to Haruru Falls which is horseshoe-shaped and apparently 5 meters tall. A very nice waterfall, though not exactly impressive to this Oregonian who visited Iceland so recently. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the falls was the columnar basalt. Amazing that I travel around the world to find columnar basalt in Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand and presumably elsewhere. 

In the best sent of the word, the hospitality of the Māori family (there were at least 3 generations) who hosted this activity reminded me of the Fijians. As the person in our boat said, “you paid for a seat in the canoe. The stories are our gift to you, we can’t put a price on them, we can’t sell them.” And what wonderful gifts they were. 

After we returned to where we started — mostly using the motor but paddling the last couple hundred meters — we got out and were offered water and a slice of orange. 

Rather than return immediately to the tenders to go back to the ship I chose to find a geocache (quel surpris!). Then a second one. My first two solo finds of the year and of the trip. Then as I approached a third cache I heard my name and two women from our group had spotted me; I continued to that cache, and reconnected with them at the second cache I’d found. 

Another “this is why I travel” day! I’m so fortunate to be able to explore so much of the world! 

January 31, Tauranga (near Rotorua)

After deciding to go canoeing my first day in New Zealand (this trip), somehow I thought it would be a brilliant plan to sign up for an excursion that promised 2 hours of kayaking for the next day at what turned out to be Lake Rotoiti (literally “little lake”, though it was not little). There were 30 paddlers, and 28 of them were with a friend, so I was paired with Bob from Tennessee. No pictures from the kayaking part of the excursion as I made the prudent choice to leave my camera in the bus. 

The scenery looked familiar which wasn’t surprising once I learned that the conifers were California Pines that were an invasive species that don’t share the forest well with other plants. We also saw Black Tree Ferns (“Mamaku”) which are basically fern trees with black trunks (I remember seeing and being impressed by fern trees when I visited NZ in 2012). Lots of ducks, black swans (50 were imported from England a couple of centuries ago, the first few we saw were exciting but we saw so many they quickly became mundane), beautiful red dragonflies. The cicadas were very loud — apparently New Zealand’s cicadas hatch every 7 years. 

We paddled for quite some distance then stopped to chat as small groups of people went into a cave with glow worms. The part of the cave with glow worms was quite narrow — we went in until both of my shoulders touched the rock which seemed far enough. Looking up there were hundreds of green “dots” on the ceiling and high on the walls, though apparently they glow white. 

More paddling until a lunch stop at hot springs. I decided to forego the hot springs as I wasn’t interested in smelling of sulfur. 

Then a long paddle back to our entry point. When we returned to the bus, the lead guide (Justin from California) informed us that we’d kayaked 10km. 

Another wonderful “why I travel” day. As I type this, I’m rather impressed that my arms were not noticeable sore after canoeing, and were barely sore the day after the kayak trip.