We had a short interlude this week for catching up with work - partly at home, and partly training sessions in Auckland. Lots of writing done from me - including some conference presentations and a book proposal. Academic work continues as 'muzak' - which suits me fine at the moment. A number of recent achievements means I can afford to be a bit relaxed about future plans - although this will creep-up on me at some point in the coming months.
Meanwhile, there are some things to sort out for the next tenants of our house (Rowing New Zealand athletes) and some tweaks to do on Stan the Van..
And so, after a few days in Cambridge, we were off down south again - via Paul at Whakatane - Coastal Caravans & Motorhomes....
About Me
- Ursula
- Cambridge, New Zealand
- Sociologist, teacher, researcher, writer. Never thought of myself as an environmentalist until I moved to New Zealand. When a country uses so much poison that is banned in the rest of the world - with seemingly no regard for humanity, there's got to be a sociological explanation - this exploration is about finding one. For useful scientific info on aerial poisoning, see: http://1080science.co.nz/
Monday, 8 May 2017
Monday, 27 March 2017
25-28 March 2017 Ahipara, Southern end of 90-Mile Beach
Powered site at the Ahipara site
Another campsite we have returned to - after some nights freedom camping, we needed some laundry facilities! This Ahipara Campsite - not far from Kaitaia - is a lovely location and quite sheltered by trees from the roaring waves of that unforgiving West Coast Surf.
There's a storm forecast, and the humidity high. So here I am typing this with the Air-Con on in a fully-powered-up caravan and thank God for this NZMCA wireless rural broadband (expensive though it is).
A bonus to us campers - Bedz Fish and Chip shop down the road offers excellent 'Maori Fish' (a delicious traditional Pacifika dish made with mixed raw fresh fish (white mainly and sometimes shellfish too), with coconut milk and lemons and peppers ('capsicum' here). Yum!
Again - no poisoning here (but I suspect the golf course next door poisons the rabbits). But the insect and bird life is amazing. Quails walk around rather than Weka.
Having done a quick calculation about our travels so far, we are averaging $13 per night for campsite costs for the whole 2+ months we've been away - not bad eh? Tomorrow, we head off to another Freedom Camping site - Southbound to the Bays....and we really must book that South Island Ferry (Blenheim Air Show at Easter Weekend)!. :)
Another campsite we have returned to - after some nights freedom camping, we needed some laundry facilities! This Ahipara Campsite - not far from Kaitaia - is a lovely location and quite sheltered by trees from the roaring waves of that unforgiving West Coast Surf.
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| the empty campsite at Ahapira |
There's a storm forecast, and the humidity high. So here I am typing this with the Air-Con on in a fully-powered-up caravan and thank God for this NZMCA wireless rural broadband (expensive though it is).
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| here we are! |
A bonus to us campers - Bedz Fish and Chip shop down the road offers excellent 'Maori Fish' (a delicious traditional Pacifika dish made with mixed raw fresh fish (white mainly and sometimes shellfish too), with coconut milk and lemons and peppers ('capsicum' here). Yum!
Again - no poisoning here (but I suspect the golf course next door poisons the rabbits). But the insect and bird life is amazing. Quails walk around rather than Weka.
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| Ahipara - Southern peninsular |
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| Maori land nearby - the North view over the Southern end of 90-mile beach |
24 March 2017 Utea Park, 90-Mile Beach
We knew this campsite looked 'a bit different' to your average camping location - just from the information on the NZMCA App - there were no proper facilities here - it is like freedom camping in a hippy commune - to be blunt. All surf boards and pot (perhaps).
Not much level ground - this is a 'bunk-bed' style backpackers place, bring your sleeping-bag and be prepared for a shared shower cubicle (if you don't want to brave the cold ones).
Phew - thank God for the relative luxury and privacy of our Stan the Van - including having a good shower!
The attraction is, it's literally right on the sand-dunes of the beach - about a 10 kms drive down a gravel track to a very isolated iwi-owned piece of land that was headlined as uncommercialised and motivated by 'koha' (donation). Tanya and Paul are great hosts - but the skeptic in me, can't help thinking that these people are making lots of 'invisible' cash from this informal enterprise based on iwi land. There's an inauthentic nature about their hospitality that makes me uncomfortable about this 'underground' element of NZ society. There is a play to the traditional Maori ways as if it's unreachable by us 'tourists' (however we are defined), but that's not really fair, is it....many of if are fully aware of the Maori philosophy, and to my mind, it doesn't include encouraging naive tourists to drive their ill-equipped cars onto the famous 'race-track' that is 90-mile beach, so that they can get stuck and have to call the local tow-truck and get charged $150 to get pulled-out of the sand. It happens so many times a day that it's a joke - but not for me looking at all the rusted-out vehicles that people don't bother reporting or getting out, polluting the beaches...
Along the drive through the timber-industry pine forests, we had to slow down for the wild horses we were warned about. There's no poison here. Timber managers apparently are positive about maintaining a health population of wild horses, because they help keep the grass and weeds down between the saplings.
And the beach was the best sunset view we have seen from 90-mile beach so far:
Catching glimpses of the horse families galloping through the shadows of the tall trees, and out into the daylight and the sea breeze was a magical experience. This place is probably the closest I've seen to the paradise that those NZ myths claim to hold - if only I could forget about all the pollution and poison, maybe that would be true....
Not much level ground - this is a 'bunk-bed' style backpackers place, bring your sleeping-bag and be prepared for a shared shower cubicle (if you don't want to brave the cold ones).
Phew - thank God for the relative luxury and privacy of our Stan the Van - including having a good shower!
The attraction is, it's literally right on the sand-dunes of the beach - about a 10 kms drive down a gravel track to a very isolated iwi-owned piece of land that was headlined as uncommercialised and motivated by 'koha' (donation). Tanya and Paul are great hosts - but the skeptic in me, can't help thinking that these people are making lots of 'invisible' cash from this informal enterprise based on iwi land. There's an inauthentic nature about their hospitality that makes me uncomfortable about this 'underground' element of NZ society. There is a play to the traditional Maori ways as if it's unreachable by us 'tourists' (however we are defined), but that's not really fair, is it....many of if are fully aware of the Maori philosophy, and to my mind, it doesn't include encouraging naive tourists to drive their ill-equipped cars onto the famous 'race-track' that is 90-mile beach, so that they can get stuck and have to call the local tow-truck and get charged $150 to get pulled-out of the sand. It happens so many times a day that it's a joke - but not for me looking at all the rusted-out vehicles that people don't bother reporting or getting out, polluting the beaches...
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| One of the many cars left behind to cause a hazard and pollute the beaches here... |
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| wild horses on their way to the beach... |
Along the drive through the timber-industry pine forests, we had to slow down for the wild horses we were warned about. There's no poison here. Timber managers apparently are positive about maintaining a health population of wild horses, because they help keep the grass and weeds down between the saplings.
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| wild horses drinking at the Spring near the beach... |
And the beach was the best sunset view we have seen from 90-mile beach so far:
Catching glimpses of the horse families galloping through the shadows of the tall trees, and out into the daylight and the sea breeze was a magical experience. This place is probably the closest I've seen to the paradise that those NZ myths claim to hold - if only I could forget about all the pollution and poison, maybe that would be true....
20-23 March 2017 Kerikeri, Rainbow Falls
NZMCA site Freedom Camping ($3pp p/n)
We headed for an NZMCA because we needed to reduce our average costs asap! We'd been staying at 'proper' campsites for a few nights now, and although it's comfortable to have all those mod-cons in the caravan working on 240v, occasionally it's very satisfying to 'mix it up' and freedom camp somewhere away from it all.
We found the Kerikeri site was exactly what we were looking for - peaceful, not many people staying here, right next door to the incredible roaring Rainbow Falls reserve and tracks. The sad thing was that - of course - the DoC land - including a wonderful walking track of an hour that goes all the way into the town (1 hour) was NO DOGS. Sometimes this anti-dog NZ really gets me angry.ðŸ˜
But there were compromises - beaches and bays and rivers all around us where there were no restrictions at all - thank God.
Also there was a friendly butcher just at the top of the road. The only thing missing here was a drinking-water tap, so we were on strict rations after filling-up both tanks at Waitangi...
We headed for an NZMCA because we needed to reduce our average costs asap! We'd been staying at 'proper' campsites for a few nights now, and although it's comfortable to have all those mod-cons in the caravan working on 240v, occasionally it's very satisfying to 'mix it up' and freedom camp somewhere away from it all.
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| Shells at the nearby beach at Kerikeri Inlet Road... |
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| the Harbour at KeriKeri |
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| Justin fishing as Dizzy lazes in the sunshine... |
We found the Kerikeri site was exactly what we were looking for - peaceful, not many people staying here, right next door to the incredible roaring Rainbow Falls reserve and tracks. The sad thing was that - of course - the DoC land - including a wonderful walking track of an hour that goes all the way into the town (1 hour) was NO DOGS. Sometimes this anti-dog NZ really gets me angry.ðŸ˜
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| The view of Rainbow Falls from the track beside the campsite: |
But there were compromises - beaches and bays and rivers all around us where there were no restrictions at all - thank God.
Also there was a friendly butcher just at the top of the road. The only thing missing here was a drinking-water tap, so we were on strict rations after filling-up both tanks at Waitangi...
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| one of the small quiet bays overlooking the harbour at Kerikeri... |
I'd forgotten that NZ First's Winston Peters' office was in Kerikeri - so I stopped into to chat to Jane Johnston about the recent Press Release against 1080 Poison. Now I don't agree with most of what NZ First stand for, but after spending the past 3 months travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand, and seeing the stark difference between the poisoned areas and the (few remaining) areas left untouched by DoC, TBFree or Commercial intervention - it's obvious the ecocide has got to be stopped. NZ First are the only poltical party that seem to be exposing and speaking-out about this fraud, so I want to support that element of what they do.
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| NZ Firsts office in KeriKeri centre |
Jane told us about the Bush Bay Action group - which is what I like to think is the real alternative to this poisoning obsession - real communities getting out there, into the forests and seeing for themselves what is happening and how they can observe and sometimes help Mother Nature. But can you believe, when I later investigated the social media of this group, they were spouting off the same propaganda from DoC - that tired old war-mongering language that 1080 poison from helicopters is somehow 'targeted' and 'helpful' to native birds. Of course quoting evidence that contradicts this view - ironically from their own pro-poisoning hierarchy - is enough to be deleted and blocked from any further comments. Hmmmm I wonder what their Trustees think of that behaviour? And without NZ First's support, they are a bit lost in Northland..
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| Irony: opposite NZ Firsts office - a possum fur shop (expensive) |
Our friend Shane in Southland can't find enough poison-free land to catch and sell possum fur and fibre, and here in Northland, where there's a real opportunity to use the fur and meat to good economic benefit, the community groups that CAN make a real change, are brainwashed (and maybe blackmailed) into repeating the same old rhetoric based on false science and flawed studies full of conflicts of interest. Depressing just isn't a strong enough word.
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| Harbour at Kerikeri Outlet. |
God help NZ if the poison reaches the ubiquitous nature in Northland that is has in South Island.
On a more positive note to end this post, we discovered a fabulous authentic, historic 'Stone Store' in one of the bays - an original settler place from full with lovely crafty things (that you can also buy online) that have (mainly) been made in NZ.
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| The stone store - with the oldest Pakeha house in NZ behind it. |
It was such a refreshing change from the many Chinese-imported rubbish we see around the tourist shops now. And I couldn't resist buying a couple of hand-molded, beeswax candles and a gift for my creative friend's forthcoming birthday (thinking ahead). But I could have spent hours here, and the museum and gardens surrounding it are fascinating and peaceful.
One for the 'return' list. Definitely.
19 March 2017. Waitangi
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| aerial view stolen from the web to show the treaty grounds (Campsite on the top right) |
We ventured back to this campsite just for an overnight. Having stopped here before, it's definitely one of our favourite locations - situated right on the banks of the Waitangi harbour, overlooking the bridge across the famous Waitangi Treaty Grounds. And Bruce runs a tight ship here, with clean and tidy facilities at a reasonable price. All walking distance to town.
It was disappointing to see broken glass and graffiti along the estuary walls and shoreline. I had to be careful with Dizzy running along when the tide was out. The bird life here isn't quite as prolific as it is in Russell - but then you'd expect that partly because of the higher residential population here.
There's certainly a lot more development and subdivision - Paihia is a growing fashionable place to be.
We had already visited the Treaty Grounds - which is a very atmospheric place - best left to a personal experience rather than words on a blog. With no Government funding, they rely upon people making the effort to get to this relatively isolated place, but I can guarantee you won't be disappointed. I firmly believe all New Zealanders should go at least once in their lifetime to understand the history of this country better. It's uniquely mythical in some senses - and such a special place in New Zealand.
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