Saturday, April 02, 2011

#1363 Paihia To Taputaputa Bay: Waitangi Treaty Grounds, NZ History, Keeping Safe And Eating Well



On day two we woke up surrounded by fruit.

I’m not actually sure what this place was called, but this was the sign out the front. We paid $20 to stay here for the night.

It was a beautiful day in Paihia. This area’s called the Bay of Islands.

Back in Auckland we visited a police station to talk about keeping safe while travelling around New Zealand.

Some people have asked me if New Zealand’s a safe country - so I asked a police officer the same question.

New Zealand is a safe country. I mean you have issues in any country anywhere you go, but generally speaking New Zealand is a very safe country. Very low crime rates and the general population of New Zealand is very friendly. People just need to take common sense precautions. If you’re driving around in a vehicle, don’t leave valuables on display. Don’t park somewhere and leave your GPS units or your handbags or expensive cameras on the front seat and leave them unattended. Just common sense precautions that you’d probably take at home, we would urge people to do the same thing in New Zealand.
Mark Fleming
Counties Manukau Police www.police.govt.nz/district/countiesmanukau


Mark’s originally from England and he moved to New Zealand eight years ago. He said the Bay of Islands was his favourite part of NZ.

For me, personally - and I’ve been from Cape Reinga in the north down to Bluff in the South and pretty much everywhere in between - and there are so many places that are just stunningly beautiful, but my personal favourite has to be the Bay of Islands. If I have a holiday destination or I’ve got some time off, that’s where I head with the family and it’s just stunning. Just one of the most beautiful places in the whole world.

After a quick swim, we drove up the road to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

This is where a famous document called The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed on the 6th February 1840.
It’s free to get in if you’re a New Zealand citizen or resident but you get a magnet and a couple of guide books if you give them a koha.

I had a bit of a look around the shop and I bought a postcard and some stamps.

Then I checked out copies of the famous treaty and some weapons which belonged to Hone Heke. He’s the guy who kept chopping down the British flag back in the 1800s.

William Hobson was one of the people who wrote the Treaty of Waitangi. He was an Irish guy who came to New Zealand in 1837 and became the governor. Apparently Remuwera was the first hill he climbed in Auckland, so they called it Mount Hobson.

This waka was launched in 1940 - 100 years after the treaty was signed.

Ngatokimatawahorua

This building is called The Treaty House. It was built in 1883 for a guy called James Busby.
James was born in Scotland and apparently he planted a vineyard here at Waitangi. He also helped write the treaty. Hello James. This is James’s daughter Sarah. And I don’t know who this is.

This is the meeting house, called Te Whare Runanga, which was built in 1940. It’s full of beautiful whakairo, tukutuku and kōwhaiwhai.

We stopped in Kerikeri for lunch. We found a nice place to park and opened our grocery box which was waiting for us in our motorhome when we picked it up. It was full of delicious food.

We met the owners of Holiday Grocery Boxes in Auckland. They said they started the business about three years ago after facing challenges when travelling with family members who had food allergies. They said the grocery box has enough food for at least the first three days of your trip. And the idea is to make travelling easier.

A lot of people that don’t speak English as a primary language are really attracted to our service. Ah, because it’s so much harder to go into a supermarket, turn the back of a package over and work out what’s in it, or to understand what the food is that you’re buying. So, you can go to our website, have a look the product in slow time, translate it if you need some help. And it makes it so much easier for your first three, first three days.
Catherine Fletcher
Holiday Grocery Boxes www.holidaygroceryboxes.co.nz


We’ve had customers all over the world, which is really great. Um, mostly from Europe, with all the different European countries. But it’s just knowing that, you know, you can create a good start to their New Zealand holiday. Because it is hard, especially if they don’t speak English. And it’s really nice to know that, you know, maybe we’ve had a little part in helping them get to know New Zealand and what’s there and and starting them the best way on their holiday.
Wendy Watson
Holiday Grocery Boxes www.holidaygroceryboxes.co.nz


We ordered a vegan grocery box. Obviously going to the supermarket in New Zealand isn’t difficult for me but I’m not a fan of supermarket shopping, so it was really nice to have food delivered. And it was also fun to try stuff that I’d never eaten before.

After lunch I decided to put on a T-shirt because my shoulders were getting fried in the sun and we checked out the Stone Store which was apparently built in the 1930s by an ex-convict.

They had some pretty cool things for sale.

Next door we saw the Kerikeri Mission House which is also called Kemp House which was built in 1822 and is New Zealand’s oldest building.

We stopped in Awanui for some diesel.

And we also stopped in Houhora to post a postcard.

Then we drove to the top of New Zealand.
Northland looked so beautiful in the soft light of the setting sun.

It was dark by the time we got to our destination - Taputaputa Bay.

We used food from the grocery box to make dinner.
I’d never tried these vegetarian sausages before. They were basically flavoured tofu in the shape of a sausage. So delicious.


licence

This video is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence.
Credit to: studio tdes | www.thedailyenglishshow.com


artist: Eric Elvendahl

music


track 1
artist: Antony Raijekov
track: When Waves Trying to Catch a Marvel
album: See U
from: Vienna, Austria, Bulgaria
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
MySpace


track 2
artist: Alexandr Filippov
track: Memory
album: for you
from: Almaty, Kazakhstan


track 3
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Acid Jazz


track 4
artist: Kämmerer
track: Like King Cool in a sunbed
album: Leaving Paradise
from: Göteborg, Sweden
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo


track 5
artist: Still Playing Guitar
track: Nachtschatten
album: Still Playing Guitar
from: Heidelberg, Germany
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

sound
camera - Richard Frohlich

photo
Kemp House - tony_the_bald_eagle


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