Waitangi Festival and Treaty Grounds

We took a our first extended road trip north of Auckland to go up to Northland and the Bay of Islands and experience Waitangi on Waitangi Day. This is the annual holiday on February 6th that commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which is considered the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand. This year was the 180th anniversary, so it was extra special. There were people who had traveled from around the world to be there, as well as a new museum that was opened the day before when the politicians usually come up. (The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was granted the very special experience of going out on a waka that day, too.) Each year, there is an all-day Waitangi Festival on the Treaty Grounds and the buildings are closed, so this meant we waited to visit them until the following day.

Bay of Islands with Waitangi Treaty Grounds opposite Russell, and Kerikeri off to the left

I didn't know what to expect - the website was vague on what things would be happening. When we arrived, there were all of these waka (canoes) out on the water, with people paddling and chanting. That was really cool and unique to get to see. The biggest one was the waka taua (war canoe), which takes at least 175 men to operate and has its own special house on the Treaty Grounds. There were some waka with all-female crews, too, and quite a few youth out there. I thought it must make them so proud to be able to participate in an event like this that is positive and celebratory of their culture. All too often that is not the case in New Zealand. Eventually, all of the waka made their way over to the shore and there were more ceremonial activities - all in te reo Māori. 

Explains the white circles at the front of some of the waka

We headed over to the main Treaty Grounds where there were lots of stalls with food, drinks, art, jewelry, and other stuff to buy. We saw some cultural performances - dancing and singing - and tried to keep out of the sun since it was quite hot out. My main critique was there weren't enough bathrooms and the ones that were there were placed quite far away and were hard to find. I also thought it was a missed opportunity to have something about the Treaty and the history for people to check out (since the museum was closed for the day). I know it's contentious, but at least some posters or a pop-up thing with general information would have been nice, since there were so many people with time to learn something.  

There was a small march/protest about an ongoing land dispute in Ihumātao

Waitangi Treaty Grounds Tour

The next day, we had the guided tour of the Treaty Grounds and a short cultural performance, and then were able to go through the two museums and the marae. I wasn't sure how much I would learn since I already know a bit about the history, but I was pleasantly surprised at learning some new things, especially about some of the key figures involved. I have to say, going through the museum can make you mad at the British colonial enterprise and what they did to indigenous populations pretty much wherever they went. 

The big waka taua was made all by hand, with parts of kauri trees being joined for the hull

stump of a kauri tree, which are facing kauri dieback disease in NZ

this is the sheltered home of the waka taua

cultural performance using little balls that make noise when snapped

interesting comparison between worldviews through maps

The flag below hasn't been retired, so it is still official.
The other black, red, and white flag (so-called Māori flag) was designed in 1990 and has become popular.

Part of the issue with the Treaty is how rushed it was. Less than a day to translate!
But it was really the changing of key words that make it controversial.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Treaty was not a Māori creation.

There was a 4th article on religious tolerance but it wasn't written into the Treaty.

Flags have real significance in designating authority.

Kerikeri

After lunch, we headed to the town of Kerikeri a little north. We stopped into a couple tourist shops (delicious chocolate sample at the chocolate factory) and popped by Rainbow Falls. Quite a few people were swimming in the area.

The Stone Store - an old building still operating as a shop

Reminder of colonial life and gardens that the British brought with them

Russell

The next day we took the car ferry over to Russell. It was an easy thing to drive onto the ferry and only took a few minutes; they are very efficient at doing this throughout the day. 

Russell used to be a lawless town full of scoundrels (think Tortuga from Pirates of the Caribbean or Mos Eisley from Star Wars) and was known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific". This was one of the reasons why local Māori wanted the British Empire to exert some control over their people and other traders in the area. Well, that backfired... Also, its original name was Kororareka, which means sweet blue penguin, which is a lot nicer than Russell. Anyway, it later turned into a holiday spot and tourist area, so it's quite a shift since the mid-1800s. It's directly across an inlet of water from Waitangi, so you can see the flagpole on the Treaty Grounds from the shore. 

View from Russell over to Waitangi Treaty Grounds

We went to the Russell Museum, a small locally-run museum whose main display is a replica of Captain James Cook's ship Endeavor. It could use a refresh and some of the info was repetition from what we'd seen the previous day, but we like to support local museums. We walked by New Zealand's oldest church, Christ Church, and the Pompallier Mission, then it was time to head back to Auckland.

Pompallier Mission

Hanmer Springs and Maori Workshops

A while ago I finally watched all of The Lord of the Rings movies for the first time since being in New Zealand. It was fun to see some of the scenery I've been to, and the mountains of course are gorgeous as usual.


I have been going to a few Māori workshops to improve my awareness and understanding of the bicultural aspect of New Zealand. I wish these were mandatory for everyone, both locals and visitors. I'm sure I now know more about some of nuances of the culture than New Zealanders. And -- did you know -- New Zealand had a Declaration of Independence!!! I can't believe it took two years for me to find this out. Before the famous Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, a number of Māori chiefs from the North Island signed a declaration calling themselves The United Tribes of New Zealand. I was so impressed. It also changes how you see the Treaty, and how unfortunate that Britain exploited their power as a colonizer. A video we watched at one of the workshops reminded us that the translator of the Treaty from English to Māori deliberately changed one of the words because he knew the Māori chiefs would not sign if he used the word for sovereignty. It reiterates the power of language.

My tutoring has been going pretty well. I think the second time around you get the rhythm of how much you can cover in a session and which activities work better. I have also had a few occasions to teach, and that has been a stressful but good experience. Unfortunately, I've come to the realization that I've been spending too much helping others with various things or trying to improve the state of things that I haven't been able to get my own stuff done, so I'm having to make the difficult decision to be more selfish with my time so that I can get my thesis done. After the semester is over, I really have to dedicate myself to writing. We'll see how successful I am at saying no!

We finally went to Hanmer Springs for a short vacation, which is a kind of resort with a bunch of hot pools that is about 90 minutes north of Christchurch, so it's considered a weekend getaway. There were quite a few people there, but winter is not exactly a great time to go, because as soon as one gets out of the water, the wind is freezing. The second day, it was raining so we had to leave our towels all the way at the entrance. I would much prefer to be dry and warm. And let's just say that the super hot pools can make your blood pressure drop so you have to be careful upon coming out for your body to readjust... The town is fairly small and within view of the mountains, which were beautiful in their snow-covered glory.

stock photo of the pools - I didn't want to worry about my camera getting wet

 

Wellington: Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum and Weta Cave

The next day was windy and rainy -- not pleasant weather for exploring a city on foot. Our luck with travel (see Queenstown trip) seems to be continuing as people have been saying this downpour is uncharacteristic even for Wellington. The guidebook said that the National Library had the Treaty of Waitangi (1840 agreement between many of the indigenous Maori chiefs and the British Crown), but we were disappointed to find that it is undergoing restoration and won't be on display for two years. She said there was a copy at the Archives down the street, so we went there, but the Constitution Room was closed, of course. I gave up and had to be satisfied with the facsimile copy in the lobby.

view of Wellington from the balcony of Airbnb apartment

Te Papa National Museum

Fortunately, the Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand did live up to the guidebook's praise. We spent hours there checking out the exhibits on the history of New Zealand.

Highlights:

The museum has the only colossal squid on public display in the world, and that thing was gnarly! It is the largest invertebrate, has eyes as big as soccer balls, and is preserved in a tank of liquid.

A self-taught woman, Joan Wiffen, discovered the first dinosaur fossil and many subsequent ones in New Zealand.

It was frustrating and saddening to learn about how destructive humans have been to this land. The British and other Europeans wanted to turn New Zealand into a little Britain, and in the process burned and bladed much of the forests, as well as taking land from the indigenous Maori people. They introduced farm animals and invasive plants and animals, leading to the extinction of many species.

Green indicates forests. Now, only 25% of indigenous forests remain.

Brown indicates Maori land ownership on the North and South Islands (not much anymore).

"Pakeha settlers wanted to create a prosperous outlying farm of Britain."

I already knew about the giant moa bird that went extinct, but the museum had a nice recreation of it being attacked by its main predator before Maori arrival, the Haast's eagle (also extinct). It kind of looks like an ostrich, but its legs are a lot thicker.

Weta Cave
Weta Workshop is known for its work on the special effects for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but it has grown a lot in its 20-year history and is working on the three new Avatar films and a lot of other projects. The 30-minute behind-the-scenes movie in the "theatrette" really just ended up making me want to watch LOTR and some of the other movies the company has worked on again!

Yogurt or Cream?

We met up with a friend from Christchurch at a Malaysian restaurant and then went to another restaurant for dessert. When you order cheesecake, they ask whether you want yogurt or cream. I didn't understand what they were talking about until they brought out the plate and had little ramekin dishes on it with plain, tart yogurt in one and whipped cream (unsweetened) in the other. It was quite strange to not have a glob of whipped cream on top of the cheesecake, and having tart yogurt with a bite of cheesecake was not pleasant. They also ask the same question when you order a brownie!