Whangarei Falls and Other Stops Along the Way

On our way home we made a couple of stops.  The first was in Kawakawa.  It’s like most small kiwi towns along the way, with the exception of a set of famous toilets.  Yes, you read that right, toilets, loos.  These aren’t just the run of the mill loos.  These were designed by the famous architect Hundertwasser (well not famous to me – but apparently well known in architect circles.  His work can be found in Vienna and Osaka).  He was born in Austria and migrated to Kawakawa where he lived without electricity from 1973 until his death in 2000, during that time he designed these bathrooms. 

This mosaic couch is across the street.  It didn’t say if Hundertwasser designed this as well.  It looks to be very similar so I wouldn’t be surprised.

 

 

 

Another stop we made along the way was to the Kawiti Marae Glow Worm Caves. Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures inside.  I found these next two on the internet.  They will hopefully show you what I’m trying to describe.

 

 

 

 

Glow worms only exist in Australia and New Zealand (at least this is what we were told, I’m wondering if that is really true).  They form hammock like sacks to hang from the ceiling of the caves.  From these they make what was described as fishing lines coming down from the hammocks.  These are covered with their saliva to make the sticky and are used to catch mosquitos, flies, moths and even each other when they turn into flies.  The brighter their glow the hungrier they are.  We stopped several times as we made our way through the cave where we were shown colonies of them.  It was really cool.  Their glow was bright enough that even deep inside the cave we could see our hands.  If you’re wondering, the life cycle of a glow worm consists of – 11 months as a worm, two weeks in a cocoon where it transforms into a fly.  Once it leaves the cocoon they have 3 days to mate and lay eggs before they die.  They do all this in the dark.  This is where they often become food for fellow worms when they fly into their fishing lines. 

 

It’s interesting that you have miles and miles of rolling hills and then out of no where you get these huge rock outcroppings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop was Whangarei Falls.  These are the loos available as you enter the park.  I took the picture to show the Maori translation.

This is a view from the top of the falls looking downstream.  There was a nice circular hike going around the falls allowing you to see them from all sides. 

Notice the monkey in the tree – oh ya, they don’t have monkeys in New Zealand.  That must be Nicholas.

Cape Reinga – the Northern Most Tip of New Zealand

Finally the weather has broke and we’ve started to see blue skies.  We took full advantage of this by heading North – all the way to the very tip of New Zealand.  On the way we stopped at Ship Wreck Bay.  It was kind of fun because you can drive right down on the beach.

At low tide,  you can see part of a ship wreck that took place in 1841.  It made me wonder if you can see this much, is there more buried under the sand.

 

 

 

 

 

The part of the ship was covered in thousands of little mussels.  It was both kind of neat and gross at the same time.

 

This is the only other part of the ship showing.  We couldn’t figure out what part it was.  We thought it was interesting that it was made of metal. 

 

 

 

The water was absolutely FREEZING!!! Ian was the only one brave enough to go in. 

 

 

 

This statue was found in Kaitaia.  New Zealand is crazy for rugby, mostly because of the All Blacks (National Rugby Team).  They take up a big chunk of the news each day. 

 

 

 

These next pictures are just some of the stunning views we saw while in the area.  The last few were taken of basically the same area just different times at night.

Early in the morning it looked like snow on the beach.  I know it wasn’t cold enough for it to be snow.  Not sure what it was, dew maybe??? 

 

 

 

Notice the window of our car.  Someone thought they’d add their mark.

 

 

 

Another fun stop we made was at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom.  Here we saw things craftsman had made out of kauri trees that had fallen during an earthquake and covered by a bog.  Years later the trees were discovered, pulled out of the bog and made into some amazing things like this carving. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just before getting to the actual cape we pulled over to this spot where you could get a good view of the giant sand dunes in the back of this picture.  It was a gorgeous view of the area with wild flowers and green rolling hills. 

These pictures are from the actual cape, Spirit Bay to be precise.  It’s hard to describe how beautiful it was.  Pictures can’t communicate the smells and sounds.  It was literally breathtaking.  I couldn’t help but be taken back by the vastness of the ocean.  For some reason it seemed daunting to know this was the end, you can’t go any further north than right here. It’s here that the Maori believe the spirits of their dead go to jump off to go to the afterlife.

It was a gorgeous day.  It’s days like this that make me think it’s going to be hard to go back to the States with all it’s snow and cold temperatures.  

American Thanksgiving in New Zealand

A few of the branch members knew about the American holiday of Thanksgiving and were determined to help us Americans celebrate this year.  Our family along with a set of missionaries (Elder and Sister Tonks from Woods Cross) are the only Americans in the branch.  Daina Dunn, who does everything 110% took this on.  She mentioned on Sunday during Relief Society that we were going to hold this dinner, that it wouldn’t be an official branch activity but anyone could come who would like to join us. She had me give a list of what would be included in a typical Thanksgiving dinner, within a day she had it all assigned out including someone who would bring me a turkey to cook. 

I’m used to going to Macey’s picking out a turkey, bringing it home and cooking it.  Turkeys here cost around $100 to get them in the store.  A fairly new returned missionary named Nephi (who served in Ogden incidentally) said he’d take care of getting us one.  On Tuesday he went out and found a turkey, killed it, cleaned and plucked it and brought it to me on Wednesday morning to cook.  I so appreciate him, but have to say it had to be one of the grossest things I’ve seen.  It still had it’s neck attached with all kinds of muscles and …. well you get the picture.  That wasn’t the only place he had things coming out of him.  Ya, it was a little troubling.  I wasn’t sure I was up to the task of cooking the turkey, not to mention he was a fairly small little fellow.  I tried not to focus on the fact that he’d been out doing turkey things just the day before (I could never live on a farm).  We put him in the fridge and vowed to do our best to make him edible. 

 

The next day we went to the church to cook the turkey and begin setting up for the dinner.  Remember, we actually meet in a house, not an actual church building so it’s pretty cozy.  I had had a dream the night before that I threw up when I was preparing the turkey for the oven.  Matt, being the wonderful husband that he is, was willing to step in and get him ready. 

We followed a traditional turkey recipe, hoping it would be the same for a wild turkey.  He ended up tasting great, just not a lot of meat on him because he didn’t grow up on a turkey farm and and hadn’t been subjected to all the hormones.

By the time 6:00 pm. rolled around quite a crowd was showing up.  We ended up with about 35 adults and 15 kids coming to Thanksgiving dinner.  Many of those who came had never eaten turkey, stuffing, corn bread etc.  Wanting to make sure we had a wonderful Thanksgiving the sisters had taken the time to look up American recipes so it would be authentic.  The dinner turned out absolutely magnificent and the company even better.  It makes me just a little teary to think how embracing the members are.  It’s almost overwhelming. 

Here’s a few pictures of the food:

 

Luckily, we ended up with two turkeys since they were so small. 

 

 

 

 

Butter is one of the four food groups here.  They love it!  I had a lady tell me that you can fix anything with butter and cream.

 

 

 

After the main course sat around and visited and then enjoyed desserts: Mango and Pineapple Pie, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Strawberries and Cream, Ice Cream, Fudge, Bread Pudding with Custard and of course pumpkin pie.  You can’t buy pumpkin in a can here.  So dear Sister Tonks got a pumpkin, cooked it etc.  It was  a lot of work! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The night ended with a fireworks display which most of the kids really enjoyed (some didn’t appreciate the loud noise).  Here they celebrate Guy Fawkes Day – which is normally November 5th but seems to drag on the whole month of November.  Here’s more than you ever wanted to know about the holiday:

Guy Fawkes Night is an old English event celebrated each year on the evening of November 5th with bonfires, fireworks and family gatherings.

The origin of Guy Fawkes dates back to 1605 when a group of 12 men tried to blow up Britain’s House of Parliament. This event became known as the Gunpowder Plot, and included Mr. Guy Fawkes, who established his reputation as one of Britain’s most notorious traitors.

Under the rule of James 1st, English Catholics had been persecuted for many years. The 12 Gunpowder Plot conspirators believed that violent action was warranted to end this persecution. By blowing up the Houses of Parliament it was intended that they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics.

To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder, and stored them in a cellar just under the House of Lords.

But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th.

The warning letter reached the King, and the King’s forces made plans to stop the conspirators. Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught and sent to trial. To show the public that treason would not be tolerated, the judge sentenced Fawkes to the most horrendous form of execution available: that of being hung, drawn and quartered.

New Zealanders celebrate the annual festival in the same way as the English do, with bonfires and fireworks lit on the official November 5 night (the only difference being that it’s a lot warmer in New Zealand at this time of year!)

For kiwis, Guy Fawkes has become an occasion signaling the coming of summer and a chance for family and friends to get together and take in the excitement of spectacular fireworks. Unlike other festivals celebrated in New Zealand, Guy Fawkes does not include any special foods nor are gifts exchanged.

It was a wonderful day, one that we’ll remember forever.