VISIT THE BAY OF ISLANDS, A SUBTROPICAL PARADISE

Visiting the Bay of the Islands

Today, Tina Picotes has chosen where to go. It hasn't been too difficult. After some days of travelling without stopping, she has decided to visit a place where they can relax and anjoy nature. Tina's option has been visiting The Bay of the Islands on the north part of New Zealand.

During the travel, The Grandma has read a new chapter of Rosemary Border's Ghost Stories.

More information: Modal verbs-Past

The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its big-game fishing since American author Zane Grey publicised it in the 1930s. It is 60 km north-west of the city of Whangarei. Cape Reinga, at the northern tip of the country, is about 210 km by road further to the north-west.

The bay itself is an irregularly-shaped 16 km-wide, 260 km2 drowned valley system and a natural harbour. It contains 144 islands, of which the largest is Urupukapuka, and numerous peninsulas and inlets. 

The three largest inlets are Waikare Inlet in the south, and Kerikeri and Te Puna (Mangonui) inlets in the north-west.

The Grandma in the Bay of the Islands

The Purerua Peninsula, north of Te Puna Inlet, separates the north-western part of the bay from the Pacific Ocean, and Cape Brett Peninsula extends 10 km into the ocean at the eastern end of the bay. The biggest town is Kerikeri, followed by Paihia.

The small town of Russell is located at the end of a short peninsula that extends into the bay from the southeast. About 700 years ago, the Mataatua, one of the large Māori migration canoes which journeyed to New Zealand from Hawaiki, was sailed to the Bay of Islands, from the Bay of Plenty, by Puhi, a progenitor of the Ngāpuhi iwi tribe which today is the largest in the country.

Māori settled and multiplied throughout the bay and on several of its many islands to establish various tribes such as the Ngāti Miru at Kerikeri. Many notable Māori were born in the Bay of Islands, including Hone Heke who several times cut down the flagpole at Kororāreka (Russell) to start the Flagstaff War.

More information: Visit Bay of Islands

Many of the Māori settlements later played important roles in the development of New Zealand, such as Okiato, the nation’s first capital, Waitangi, where the Treaty of Waitangi would later be signed, and Kerikeri, which was an important departure point for inland Māori going to sea, and later site of the first permanent mission station in the country.

Some of the islands became notable as well, such as Te Pahi Island where 60 of chief Te Pahi's people were killed as revenge after he was wrongly accused of being responsible for the Boyd Massacre at Whangaroa.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon contemplates the coast

The first European to visit the area was Captain Cook, who named the region in 1769. The Bay of Islands was the first area in New Zealand to be settled by Europeans. 

Whalers arrived towards the end of the 18th century, while the first missionaries settled in 1814. The first full-blooded European child recorded as being born in the country, Thomas King, was born in 1815 at Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands. There have been unsubstantiated claims that a European girl was born earlier at the Dusky Sound settlement in the South Island.

The bay has many interesting historic towns including Paihia, Russell, Waitangi and Kerikeri. Russell, formerly known as Kororāreka, was the first permanent European settlement in New Zealand, and dates from the early 19th century.

More information: New Zealand

Kerikeri contains many historic sites from the earliest European colonial settlement in the country. These include the Mission House, also called Kemp House, which is the oldest wooden structure still standing in New Zealand. The Stone Store, a former storehouse, is the oldest stone building in New Zealand, construction having begun on 19 April 1832.

The Bay of Islands was visited by sealing ships and whaling ships that hunted in the ocean around New Zealand.

In December 1835 Charles Darwin visited the Bay of Islands in HMS Beagle. In February 1840, some members of the United States Exploring Expedition were present at the initial signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at Waitangi.

In a 2006 study, the Bay of Islands was found to have the second bluest sky in the world, after Rio de Janeiro.

More information: Must Do New Zealand

I've had a quiet fascination with New Zealand for most of my life. 

Richard Dean Anderson

WHANGAREI: FOLLOWING CAPTAIN JAMES COOK'S STEPS

Remembering James Cook in Whangarei Harbour

The Grandma is a great fan of volcanoes. She wants to visit Mount Parihaka in Whangarei.

During the travel, The Grandma has read another chapter of Rosemary Border's Ghost Stories and she has studied a new lesson of her First Certificate Language Practice manual (Grammar 4).

John de Ca'th Lon is a great fan of Captain James Cook and this is a special travel for him, too, because he's going to discover what Cook and the crew of the Endeavour first saw when they arrived to the coast of Whangarei.

More information: Present Time

Whangarei is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region.

The Māori iwi Ngāpuhi occupied Whangarei from the early 19th century, and the Te Parawhau hapū lived at the head of the harbour. Captain James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour were the first Europeans to sight the Whangarei Harbour entrance. 

Claire Fontaine at Parihaka Scenic Reserve

On 15 November 1769 in the harbour they caught about 100 fish there which they classified as bream, probably snapper, prompting Cook to name the area Bream Bay.

In the 1820s the area was repeatedly attacked by Waikato and Ngāti Paoa raiders during the Musket Wars. The first European settler was William Carruth, a Scotsman and trader who arrived in 1839 and was joined six years later by Gilbert Mair and his family. Relations between the settlers and local Māori were generally friendly, but in February 1842, all settler farms were plundered in revenge for transgressions of tapu. 

In April 1845, during the Flagstaff War, all settlers fled from Whangarei. Most of the original settlers never returned, but by the mid-1850s there were a number of farmers and orchardists in the area. From 1855, a small town developed, driven by the kauri gum trade.

More information: Whangarei-New Zealand

Today's Town Basin on the Hatea River was the original port and early exports included kauri gum and native timber followed later by coal from Whau Valley, Kamo, and Hikurangi. Coal from the Kiripaka field was exported via the Ngunguru River. By 1864, the nucleus of the present city was established.

Tina Picotes at Whangarei Falls Holiday Park

Fire bricks made from fire clay deposits near the Kamo mines supported a brick works over several decades. Good quality limestone was quarried at Hikurangi, Portland and Limestone Island, and initially sold as agricultural lime and later combined with local coal to produce Portland cement at the settlement of Portland on the south side of the harbour. Local limestone is still used in cement manufacture but the coal is now imported from the West Coast of the South Island.

More information: New Zealand

Whangarei was the most urbanised area in Northland towards the end of the 19th century. The district slowly exhausted most of its natural resources but was sustained by agriculture, especially dairying.

Shipping was the main transport link until the North Auckland railway line reached the town in 1925, and the road from Auckland was not suitable for travel in poor weather until 1934.

Christine Roke, Mt Manaia, Whangarei Heads

These terrestrial travel routes forced a rapid decline in coastal shipping but stimulated Whangarei to become the service centre for Northland.

The second half of the twentieth century brought the establishment and expansion of the oil refinery at Marsden Point on Bream Bay, the adjacent development of timber processing and the establishment of Northland Port, which is mainly focused on timber exporting.

Whangarei has a oceanic climate. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows. Summer days occasionally exceed 30 °C, and there is plentiful rainfall spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Whangarei is firmly a maritime subtropical climate due to its absence of winter cold. 

Mount Parihaka is a volcanic dome rising 241 m to the northeast of the city centre. It is about 20 million years old, and part of the Harbour Fault which also includes Parakiore near Kamo, and Hikurangi near the town of the same name. The dome is surrounded by the Parihaka Scenic Reserve. There is road access to the summit of Parihaka and walking tracks through the reserve.

More information: Instagram-Parihaka Scenic Reserve

Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been 

before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go. 

James Cook

NEW ZEALAND, THE MAORI AND EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS

Joseph de Ca'th Lon's reading

Tonyi Tamaki has just met with Joseph de Ca'th Lon, Tina Picotes, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma. Four of them have been victims of a big jet lag and they must adapt themselves to the new situation in New Zealand.  

Tonyi has welcome them to her house in Auckland and they're resting a little before starting their tour around the island.

The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her First Certificate Language Practice manual (Grammar 2). Meanwhile, Tina and Claire are resting, Joseph is reading the interesting story about the first Maori settlements in New Zealand and about the British colonization during the 19th century.

More information: Present Perfect I & II

The history of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links and land. The first European explorer to sight New Zealand was Dutch navigator Abel Tasman on 13 December 1642. The Dutch were also the first non-natives to explore and chart New Zealand's coastline. Captain James Cook, who reached New Zealand in October 1769 on the first of his three voyages, was the first European explorer to circumnavigate and map New Zealand.

From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries, traders and adventurers. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and various Māori chiefs, bringing New Zealand into the British Empire and giving Māori the same rights as British subjects. 

Māori settlement, Ātene, Whanganui River

There was extensive British settlement throughout the rest of the century and into the early part of the next century. War and the imposition of a European economic and legal system led to most of New Zealand's land passing from Māori to Pākehā (European) ownership, and most Māori subsequently became impoverished.

New Zealand was originally settled by Polynesians from Eastern Polynesia. Genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that humans emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands; after a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.

The most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE. Previous dating of some Kiore, a Polynesian rat, bones at 50–150 CE has now been shown to have been unreliable; new samples of bone, and now also of unequivocally rat-gnawed woody seed cases, match the 1280 CE date of the earliest archaeological sites and the beginning of sustained, anthropogenic deforestation.

More information: TeAra-The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

The descendants of these settlers became known as the Māori, forming a distinct culture of their own. The separate settlement of the tiny Chatham Islands in the east of New Zealand about 1500 CE produced the Moriori; linguistic evidence indicates that the Moriori were mainland Māori who ventured eastward.

The original settlers quickly exploited the abundant large game in New Zealand, such as moa, which were large flightless ratites pushed to extinction by about 1500. As moa and other large game became scarce or extinct, Māori culture underwent major change, with regional differences.
 

Early British settlers in New Zealand

In areas where it was possible to grow taro and kūmara, horticulture became more important. This was not possible in the south of the South Island, but wild plants such as fernroot were often available and cabbage trees were harvested and cultivated for food. 

Warfare also increased in importance, reflecting increased competition for land and other resources. 

In this period, fortified pā became more common, although there is debate about the actual frequency of warfare. As elsewhere in the Pacific, cannibalism was part of warfare.

More information: New Zealand

The first Europeans known to reach New Zealand were the crew of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who arrived in his ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen. Tasman anchored at the northern end of the South Island in Golden Bay, he named it Murderers' Bay, in December 1642 and sailed northward to Tonga following an attack by local Māori.

Tasman sketched sections of the two main islands' west coasts. Tasman called them Staten Landt, after the States General of the Netherlands, and that name appeared on his first maps of the country.

In 1645 Dutch cartographers changed the name to Nova Zeelandia in Latin, from Nieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province of Zeeland. It was subsequently anglicised as New Zealand by British naval captain James Cook of HM Bark Endeavour who visited the islands more than 100 years after Tasman during 1769–1770. Cook returned to New Zealand on both of his subsequent voyages.

Maori women and child, Te Ore Ore

From the 1790s, the waters around New Zealand were visited by British, French and American whaling, sealing and trading ships. Their crews traded European goods, including guns and metal tools, for Māori food, water, wood and flax. Māori were reputed to be enthusiastic and canny traders, even though the levels of technology, institutions and property rights differed greatly from the standards in European societies.

In 1788 the Colony of New South Wales had been founded. According to the future Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip's amended Commission, dated 25 April 1787 the colony of New South Wales included all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes of 10°37'S and 43°39'S which included most of New Zealand except for the southern half of the South Island.

More information: New Zealand History

In 1839, the New Zealand Company announced its plans to establish colonies in New Zealand. This and the increased commercial interests of merchants in Sydney and London spurred the British to take stronger action. Captain William Hobson was sent to New Zealand to persuade Māori to cede their sovereignty to the British Crown. 

In reaction to the New Zealand Company's moves, on 15 June 1839 new Letters Patent were issued to expand the territory of New South Wales to include all of New Zealand. Governor of New South Wales George Gipps was appointed Governor over New Zealand. This was the first clear expression of British intent to annex New Zealand.

On 6 February 1840, Hobson and about forty Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands. Copies of the Treaty were subsequently taken around the country to be signed by other chiefs. A significant number refused to sign or were not asked but, in total, more than five hundred Māori eventually signed.

Ararimu, South Auckland, New Zealand, 1884

The Treaty gave Māori sovereignty over their lands and possessions and all of the rights of British citizens. What it gave the British in return depends on the language-version of the Treaty that is referred to. 

The English version can be said to give the British Crown sovereignty over New Zealand but in the Māori version the Crown receives kawanatanga, which, arguably, is a lesser power, see interpretations of the Treaty. Dispute over the true meaning and the intent of either party remains an issue.

Māori chiefs were motivated by a desire for protection from foreign powers, the establishment of governorship over European settlers and traders in New Zealand, and to allow for wider settlement that would increase trade and prosperity for Māori.

Hobson died on 10 September 1842. Robert FitzRoy, the new governor, took some legal steps to recognise Māori custom. However, his successor, George Grey, promoted rapid cultural assimilation and reduction of the land ownership, influence and rights of the Māori. The practical effect of the Treaty was, in the beginning, only gradually felt, especially in predominantly Māori regions.

More information: New Zealand History

Māori had welcomed Pākehā for the trading opportunities and guns they brought. However it soon became clear that they had underestimated the number of settlers that would arrive in their lands. Iwi (tribes) whose land was the base of the main settlements quickly lost much of their land and autonomy through government acts. Although race relations were generally peaceful in this period, there were conflicts over who had ultimate power in particular areas, the Governor or the Māori chiefs.

As the Pākehā population grew, pressure grew on Māori to sell more land. Land is not only an economic resource, but also one basis of Māori identity and a connection with their ancestor's bones. Land was used communally, but under the mana of chiefs. 

Maori and British descendents, now New Zealanders

In Māori culture there was no such idea as selling land until the arrival of Europeans. The means of acquiring land was to defeat another hapu or iwi in battle and seize their land. 

Land was usually not given up without discussion and consultation. When an iwi was divided over the question of selling this could lead to great difficulties as at Waitara. While the North Island was convulsed by the Land Wars, the South Island, with its lower Māori population, was generally peaceful.

Māori always had a high birth rate; that was neutralised by a high death rate until modern public health measures became effective in the 20th century when tuberculosis deaths and infant mortality declined sharply. Life expectancy grew from 49 years in 1926 to 60 years in 1961 and the total numbers grew rapidly. 

Māori culture had meanwhile undergone a renaissance. By the 1980s 80% of the Māori population was urban, in contrast to only 20% before the Second World War. The migration led to better pay, higher standards of living and longer schooling, but also exposed problems of racism and discrimination. By the late 1960s a protest movement had emerged to combat racism, promote Māori culture and seek fulfilment of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Urbanisation proceeded rapidly across the land. In the late 1940s, town planners noted that the country was possibly the third most urbanised country in the world, with two-thirds of the population living in cities or towns. 

More information: New Zealand Wars

I'm quite proud of growing up in New Zealand where, 
from quite early on in primary school, 

you're learning to count in Maori, 

Maori mythology and dances and colours and history, 
and I think that gives a child a really good grounding.
 

Martin Henderson

TONYI TAMAKI, NEW ZEALANDER RESPECT FOR NATURE

Tonyi Tamaki, the new member of the group

Tonyi Tamaki was born in Rotorua, New Zealand. She's an expert in sea and terrestrial biodiversity and she's a great defender of the planet. She's a descendent of a Māori woman and an English man and she speaks her both native languages perfectly.

She is waiting for the arrival of Joseph de Ca'th Lon, Tina Picotes, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma who are now flying from Barcelona to Auckland in a flight of 26 hours via Dubai to spend some weeks in New Zealand, discover the most interesting places of the island and improve their English pronunciation thanks to the local English-spoken inhabitants.

The Grandma is studying the first lesson of her First Certificate Language Practice manual (Grammar 1).

The four friends are very happy to meet Tonyi Tamaki and they like the idea of having a new member of their selected group which only wants to learn and improve English travelling around the world and discovering interesting and amazing stories about history and culture.

More information: Past Time I, II & III

New Zealand, in Māori Aotearoa, is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses, the North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island or Te Waipounamu, and around 600 smaller islands.

New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. 

The Māori, the native inhabitants of New Zealand

Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life.

The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Sometime between 1250 and 1300, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand.

In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire and in 1907 it became a Dominion; it gained full independence in 1947, but the British monarch remained the head of state.

More information: New Zealand

 I love living in New Zealand.

Taika Waititi

Today, the majority of New Zealand's population of 4.7 million is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Māori and NZ Sign Language, with English being very dominant.

New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, and economic freedom.

The country underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalised free-trade economy. The service sector dominates the national economy, followed by the industrial sector, and agriculture. International tourism is a significant source of revenue.

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and named it Staten Land in honour of the States General, the Dutch parliament.

In 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand.

More information: New Zealand History

Aotearoa, often translated as land of the long white cloud is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the whole country before the arrival of Europeans, with Aotearoa originally referring to just the North Island. Māori had several traditional names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui, the fish of Māui, for the North Island and Te Waipounamu, the waters of greenstone, or Te Waka o Aoraki, the canoe of Aoraki, for the South Island. For each island, either its English or Māori name can be used, or both can be used together.

James Cook

New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians between 1250 and 1300, concluding a long series of voyages through the southern Pacific islands.

The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and his crew in 1642. Europeans did not revisit New Zealand until 1769 when British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline.

In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip assumed the position of Governor of the new British colony of New South Wales which according to his commission included New Zealand.

In 1907, at the request of the New Zealand Parliament, King Edward VII proclaimed New Zealand a Dominion within the British Empire, reflecting its self-governing status. 

In 1947 the country adopted the Statute of Westminster, confirming that the British Parliament could no longer legislate for New Zealand without the consent of New Zealand.

Early in the 20th century, New Zealand was involved in world affairs, fighting in the First and Second World Wars and suffering through the Great Depression. The depression led to the election of the First Labour Government and the establishment of a comprehensive welfare state and a protectionist economy.

More information: New Zealand Government

New Zealand experienced increasing prosperity following the Second World War and Māori began to leave their traditional rural life and move to the cities in search of work. A Māori protest movement developed, which criticised Eurocentrism and worked for greater recognition of Māori culture and of the Treaty of Waitangi.

In 1975, a Waitangi Tribunal was set up to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty, and it was enabled to investigate historic grievances in 1985.

New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, although its constitution is not codified. Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and thus the head of state. The powers of the Queen and the Governor-General are limited by constitutional constraints and they cannot normally be exercised without the advice of ministers.

 

More information: Backpacker Guide

English is the predominant language in New Zealand, spoken by 96.1% of the population. New Zealand English is similar to Australian English and many speakers from the Northern Hemisphere are unable to tell the accents apart. 

The most prominent differences between the New Zealand English dialect and other English dialects are the shifts in the short front vowels.

After the Second World War, Māori were discouraged from speaking their own language , te reo Māori, in schools and workplaces and it existed as a community language only in a few remote areas.

It has recently undergone a process of revitalisation, being declared one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987, and is spoken by 3.7% of the population. There are now Māori language immersion schools and two television channels that broadcast predominantly in Māori. Many places have both their Māori and English names officially recognised.

More information: Tourism New Zealand

 

Living in New Zealand, it's like a different world. 

It is a different world. It's very, very cool. 

Luke Evans