Thursday, February 08, 2007

Journal Entry – February 8, 2007 - Great Barrier Island


Author: Pam

Great Barrier Island is the fourth largest island making up New Zealand, population 800, 100 of which live on the north side of the island. At 8:30 am we crawled into our dinghy and headed to shore followed by Jeff, Raewin, Michelle and Aaron. We had all agreed to share the cost of hiring a van and spending the day checking out the island by land. We actually were expecting to end up with two cars, there were no vans available the day before. However, when we arrived they couldn’t find the keys to one of the cars, so suddenly the van that was being used as the school bus would be back in 15 minutes and would be available for us for the day.

The van arrived, all six of us piled in with Aaron at the wheel (where he happily stayed for the day) and off we went on the one road around the island. As to be expected Great Barrier Island is made up of bays, beaches, camping spots and walking and tramping tracks. There are four small towns, Port Fitzroy (where we are anchored), Claris (the capitol), Whangaparapara and Tryphena. The towns are on the don’t blink or you will miss them tour, some having five buildings and Tryphena the biggest may have up to ten.

The roads are mostly unsealed (unpaved) and very bumpy. Our first side trip off of the main road was down to Motairehe Beach, which has the biggest right hand surf in New Zealand. Aaron was keen to check it out, he had brought his surf board along for the day in case he found some good surfing. The waves were big and you could not get there by car, so we were unfortunately not treated to his surfing prowess. On our way down Motairehe Road we picked up a young woman from Germany who was out trekking for the day and headed to Katherine’s Bay. She hopped in and joined us for an hour or so of our adventure, we ultimately ended up dropping her off so she could hike along the coastline.

After the beach we headed to Katherine’s Bay and discovered a beautiful bay with a couple of houses that have a beautiful view, but are in desperate need of “doing up”. We quickly learned that life’s tapestry changes with each passing moment. In one moment we went from six intrepid travelers to seven, we had to weave our way through a herd of cows that had no concern for an on coming car and encountered a car that at the moment only had three wheels. We pulled up behind a white car that was for lack of a better description literally falling apart. The driver was a Maori woman (Aunty Himo) who explained that she was driving along when something white flew past her windshield, it was her tire. Apparently her thirteen year old daughter had put the tire on the other day (after a flat), but had not tightened the bolts. Of course the fact that there were only two bolts may have had something to do with the mishap. The men rose to the occasion, found a jack in our hired van, some tree branches to use as braces and put that tire back on, as well as tightened the two bolts on the other three tires while they were at it. Aunty Himo was in good humor, very appreciative for the assistance and posed for a picture with her saviors. She stowed her walker, got back behind the wheel, closing the door that was falling off of the hinges and headed down the road to the school, her destination. We followed her, given it was a single lane road to make sure she made it. It was a priceless New Zealand experience.

We continued on our way to visit Claris, the capitol of Great Barrier. It was time for lunch and it appeared our choices were a Thai restaurant and The Claris Texas Café, which was voted as the winner. After a lunch of nachos and paninis (grilled sandwiches) we continued our tour of the island. We visited Tryphena, the largest small town I have ever visited. In reality all of the towns on Great Barrier revolve around their bay and the fishing and cruising boats that visit or live there. Great Barrier has a very rugged coastline, at times reminding me very much of highway 1 in California.

After a long day of riding in the car and one beautiful bay and view after another, the remaining highlights were the silliness of taking Scott and my picture under the sign for Blind Bay. Everyone thought that was the perfect photo opportunity. We then visited Blind Bay, which apparently is often the cause of mishaps, because seaman often think they are in the adjacent Bay and end up in a wreck. We decided we would keep out visit to land.

On the way back to the boats, Aaron took a detour back to the second beach we visited and he was thrilled to see it was low tide. It was time to learn how to gather pipis. I fortunately had two plastic grocery bags, the perfect holder for the fruits of efforts. We walked what seemed like a mile out to the waters edge and were instructed to scoop our hands under the surface of the sand to reveal the pipi. We discovered we were not in pipi territory, but there were cockles. Almost as good according to Aaron. All six of us were turning over handfuls of cockles, as Aaron headed down the beach in search of pips. Michelle looked up to see him waving his arms and beckoning the gang down the beach to where he had found the pipi haven. Pipis and Cockles look (and I am hoping taste) like clans. Cockle shells are rounder than Pipis, but both have shells like a clam. In a very short time we had more than we thought we could eat, we even put some back. It was definitely easier than the last time Scott and I visited Maine and watched my Mom break her back for less than half a hod of clams. Mom, you would love “digging” for pipis.

We took our booty and crawled back in the van for the twentieth time and headed back to Port Fitzroy and our dinghies. We ended the day with a hearty thank you to Aaron, Michelle, Raewin and Jeff for the opportunity to see more of the island than we often get to without being able to rent something with wheels. It was a very memorable day and we can definitely say we “did” Great Barrier.

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