Island Time

Our retirement on Island Time as liveaboards.

Island Time crew goes to New Zealand
Part 10

New Zealand Days 7 and 8

We left Piahia and headed south with our goal being Whaketane on the Bay of Plenty. Our first night we stopped in Cambridge (S 37 degrees 54.4 minutes; E 175 degrees 28.8 minutes) and arrived in Whaketane (S 37 degrees 56.9 minutes; E 175 degrees 28.8 minutes) midday the following day. The following are pictures along the way.

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Auckland from the motorway

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Some of the 40 million sheep in New Zealand – 10 sheep for every New Zealander

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The road took us by a series of lakes, Lake Rotorua (This is a sunken volcano and makes almost a perfect circle.), Lake Rotoiti, Lake Rotoehu, and Lake Rotoma. All these lakes begin with roto which is Maori for lake. Between these lakes and Whakatane is an area of thermal activity and the smell of sulfur is in the air as we drive thru pastureland (didn’t seem to bother the sheep).

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Lake Rotoura

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Lake Rotoiti

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Lake Rotoma

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Waterfront of Whakatane on the Whakatane River

Whakatane (Wh pronounced like p) is a small village nestled along the river on a sliver of flat land at the base of the mountains. This area was first settled over a thousand years ago by a Maori group led by Tiwakawaka the grandson of Maui the original discoverer of Aoteatoa/New Zealand followed by the Toi several generations later and then two hundred years later the last great migration led by Toroa captain of the waka (canoe) Mataatua.

Toroa had beached the waka in the river and the men went exploring leaving the women on the waka and when the tide changed the waka was being pulled out to sea. Toroa’s daughter, Wairaka, on the waka called out “El Kia whakatane au I ahau” - “let me act the part of a man” and against tradition she and the other women paddled the waka back to safety and that’s where the name Whakatane originated. There is a statue of Wairaka on the rocks that form the entrance to the Whakatane river.

The first European settlers arrived in 1830 and were comprised of whalers, sealers and missionaries. The area became a thriving shipbuilding center for ships that carried maize, potatoes, wheat and flax to the northern part of the island.

$C:\Documents and Settings\Genie\My Documents\My Pictures\north island\north island 157.jpg$ Wairaka’s statue on one of the rocks lining the entrance to the river.
(That’s a sea gull sitting on her head)

There is a dike constructed between the village and the river. On the top of this they have constructed a recreation path which the campground abuts, and we could walk into town along the river. The town itself had many restaurants and shops. One interesting feature was a huge rock pinnacle in the center of the shopping area that the roads went around.

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Whakatane River