Chapter 3: Piahia and Russell

Paul and Toni Harris dropped us off in town the morning of my birthday and we walked to the end of the page, pressing it firmly back to start the new chapter. Spending most of the day hitch-hiking, we ended up in a small, coffee-book-picturesque, coastal (tourist) community called Piahia. Waitangi day was approaching fast, so we had a difficult time finding accommodation for the night. Thankfully we found solace in the last remaining room at The Pickled Parrot (See: "The Island of the Long White Cloud [from 1/5/09]," a few posts down). Funny how those things have seemed to just work out. Waitangi Day comes once every year on February 6th to celebrate the signing of the founding document of New Zealand. The Waitangi Treaty established New Zealand as a British colony in 1840, also (supposedly) guaranteeing the Maori people (Indigenous New Zealanders) the rights to their land and all of the civil liberties maintained by the British. Waitangi day is similar to American Independence day, though I suppose the document signifies the exact opposite effect in terms of the state's relationship to Great Britain. Much like The United States Constitution, there has been a lot of debate over The Treaty of Waitangi and its constituent elements. Rather than attempting to summarize it here, if you are interested you can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitangi_Day

Piahia (pronounced "Pie-Heya") is essentially composed of hotels, backpackers, a central grocery store and a long, multi-beach coast. We happened to be out on the beach as groups of Maori were rehearsing for the celebration, making laps around the coast. Groups of 10 or 20 paddled away in traditional war-canoes (called "Wakas"), chanting in their traditional tongue. The largest war canoe in the world is a Waka called "Ngatokimatawhaorua" (good luck pronouncing that one properly), and it resides in Waitangi about 5 minutes from Piahia.

We rented a couple of kayaks from a shed on the beach for 10NZD (for 2-hours, about $5) and paddled our way out away from the beach madness. We must have looked like fleeing white people, but many might have just thought we were playing a role in part of the Maori's Waitangi celebration rehearsal.

We launched away after a 5-minute instruction in rudder-steering and proper paddle technique. In all directions there were tiny little islands, sometimes smaller in size than an American Wal-mart. We made our way to a drowning rock that was more like the size of a Starbucks. It included a tiny 20-foot wide beach salted by rocks about 40-feet high and peppered with piles of seashells. We pulled our kayaks up, had our inevitable 10-20 minutes of beach-combing and shell collecting, and spent the rest of the two hours laying out in the sun on our tiny little isolated paradise. Nobody, save for the one crab skeleton, could see us... Not only because we accidentally camouflaged ourselves with sand, but because that's just the way it was. A busy beach in New Zealand is about 10 miles long of the most perfect beach you could think of with approximately 4 to 6 people on it.

Not kidding.

We ended up going over our allotted time, but the Canadian fellow that was running the shed didn't charge us extra. He likely was entertained by my less-than graceful entry and exit to and from the kayak, capsizing only a total of three times...

After our one-night with my friend The Pickled Parrot (thankfully he ended up being as much of a sloth as I at night), we avoided most of the Waitangi celebration (not entirely intentionally), by taking the ferry across the peninsula to another small coastal community called Russell. We stayed at the backpackers there for one night, as Piahia was completely booked. It was there we arranged our next route north...

Some views from Russell:
[You'll just have to imagine these photographs larger until I get back]

[Also, the current image at the top of this blog was taken in Russell, Northland]

[The chronology of this blog is all out of whack now, so I apologize for any confusion. This post brings us up to the moment I was writing the update on February 12, titled "The Island of the Long White Cloud [from 1/5/09]." I am going to attempt to finish catching up to present in the next 4 days. Then updates will occur in real-time. Thanks for your patience!]