Meghan On Amelie-December 2015

It is hard to believe that one year ago on Christmas, we were just four boats (SV Perry, Mandala, Kazaio and us) anchored off of a sandy, uninhabited island in the middle of the Kuna Yala Islands!  Today, when I look out my window, I see a very different view: the suburbs of Auckland City!

First of all, I just want to say that I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wherever in the world you were this year!  We were very grateful this holiday season to have my Aunt Dominique and cousin, Laura, on board with us once again.  Doe and Laura first flew in at the beginning of December while we were in Opua.  We went on a few little day trips to nearby islands and then they left for their adventure in the south island so we went to explore the Bay of Islands.


Bay of Islands. The New Zealand Bay of Islands are a little bit different from the Fiji Bay of Islands.  First of all, they are less isolated than Fiji's.  Also, they don't have any flying foxes *sigh*!  Third, they really remind me of a Banff with an ocean which Fiji certainly did not.

While sailing through this area, we saw a surprising amount of wildlife!  First of all, the dolphins.  Now, after one year and a half full of dolphin sightings we are not as giddy and excited about dolphins as we used to be but the Bay of Islands' dolphins gave us something to remember!  These guys were breaching, flipping, twirling and they were pretty big dolphins as well!   We had them at our bow for a good 20 minutes on one crossing!  Once, we even had them doing all these tricks right in the anchorage beside our boat!

As well as dolphins, we were also very lucky with fishing.  In the three full day crossings, we caught three fish (one each day!).  On the first and third day, we caught Yellow Tailed Kingfish.  On the second day, we either caught a Kahawai or a Kingfish.  They were all pretty small (about 2.5 ft), compared to what we have seen in the open ocean, but they were some of the biggest kind of fish in the area.

We came quite quickly through the islands but slow enough that we have a feeling about them.  On almost every island, the first thing we would do is take a long walk.  This helped us to (1)See some pretty magnificent views and (2)Train us for the upcoming Routeburn Track, a 3 day hike in the mountains on the south island, which we are doing next month.  Anyways, here are some pictures of the picturesque Bay of Islands!

Whirlwind 3 Day Camping Trip!
After the Bay of Islands, we sailed down to Auckland which is where we are now!  We are actually at a marina called Half Moon Bay which is just a 25 minute drive out of downtown Auckland.

Doe and Laura came back on the 21st so my mom and I picked them up at the airport and we set off on our whirlwind girls adventure of the southern north island!  We had four different events planned over 3 days so we sure were kept on our toes (in a good way)!

On the first day, we visited the Waitomo Caves just two hours south of Auckland.  This place is especially famous for their glow worm caves.  The tiny worms hang from the cave ceilings and have a glowing blue light (I learned is called bioluminescence) at the end of their tails.  This light attracts bugs who think it is a way out of the cave.  They then get stuck and the worm gets a nice meal!

Anyways, the glow worm caves were really, really cool.  It reminded me of seeing the stars at night in the middle of the ocean and, in my opinion, it was just as amazing!  Here is a few pictures of the worms (unfortunately, it was really hard to get a picture of them so none of them are really good).

As well as the glow worm caves, we also visited some normal caves with the usual stalactites (rock formations that grow from the ceiling down) and stalagmites (rock formations that grow from the ground up).  There were a lot of them though in these caves and they were pretty big too!  If you think about it, it is pretty phenomenal because the average growing speed of a stalactite/stalagmite is 1 square centimetre per hundred years.  I tried measuring some of them and I'm guessing the youngest is at least 1000 years old!

Weta bugs that dwell these caves!

The next day was, I think, the most exciting of the three.  First thing in the morning, we got up and headed off to the Hobbiton movie set known in the movies as the Shire, home of the hobbits!

Lauran, Doe, Meg and MC in a Hobbit hole

I won't give any of the good stuff away because I don't want to spoil it for when you go.  I will just say though that seeing Hobbiton is definitely worth it, especially if you love behind the scenes information like I do!  The tour gives you all these background details about how they filmed different scenes, the different characters, where they filmed famous scenes, and all about every prop in the set!  Here are some pictures just to give you an idea about Hobbiton (I would tell you every detail in words because I remember it all but I don't want to ruin the experience for you so I will just give some of the information).

The famous "Bag End"

Look carefully: is this tree real or is it actually fake?

Each hobbit hole has a theme. What do you think this theme is?

Sam and Rosie's home 

The "Party Tree" in the field where Bilbo Baggins has his 111th birthday party

The Watermill

                           
That evening, after we settled into the new campground, we went to see a Maori performance at the Tamaki Village Maori site.  It included interactive demonstrations of traditional Maori games, war cries, and dances.  Then, we saw a Maori performance and the evening finished off with a nice buffet dinner ( called a Hangi).

The touching of the noses is a very sacred gesture from
chief to chief

In the interactive demonstrations, I was able to play a traditional Maori game where four people each held a pole and depending on if the caller yelled left or right (here's the catch: in Maori, not English!) you had to drop your pole and run in that direction to catch the next one.  If you didn't catch the pole before it fell or you ran the wrong direction, you would lose (and yes, I was the first one out... oops!).

After that activity, all the men had to learn how to do the famous Haka war cry including all the facial expressions like the sticking out of the tongue which is an expression to scare off any attackers (and it would work!).  

The enlargement of the eyes is also a war-like expression

We also learned about Maori facial tattoos.  If you have ever seen a picture of an ancient Maori or even some Maoris today, you will see that their face is fully tattooed!  The man explained to us that the tattoo on the right side of the face usually represents the father because most people are right handed and people use their hands to hold weapons and fight which is what the father does.  The left side of the face usually represents the mother because the heart is on the left side and your mother is close to your heart.

A tool they used to use for tattooing

After that, I and a few other ladies got to try a traditional dance routine where you swing a ball that is tied onto a string (originally the men used these but today the women do).

The show afterwards was great as well as the food. Now that I have been through the South Pacific and I've seen the French Polynesian dances, the Niuan dances, the Fijian dances, and now the Maori dances, I can see the similarities and differences between them all.  All of these tribes originated from the Polynesians so it is no surprise that they are quite similar.  However, I think the Maori dances are the most different out of the four.  For one, I find that they are more war-like than any of the other dances.  The French Polynesian men dancers were sometimes war-like but not the women.  The Maori dancers also seem to use many props in their dances such as sticks which they toss to each other and the balls on ropes.  One thing all the dances across these places have in common though, is that everyone sings as strongly as they can.

On the third day, we visited Te Po in Rotorua.  There, we saw a geyser erupt steam and hot water and we were right in front of it which was pretty awesome!

We returned back to the boat on the 23 of December just in time to do some preparations for Christmas the next day!  Christmas Day was lots of fun even though it was quite rainy.  Ironically, we actually figured out that it was just as warm (or maybe even a few degrees warmer) in Ottawa, where Doe and Laura usually spend Christmas, than it was here!  Oh well... we still enjoyed staying inside the warm boat and playing lots of games and watching movies!

On New Year's Eve, (Doe and Laura left on the 28th), we went downtown and stayed up until midnight to see the fireworks around the Sky Tower.  Again, it's amazing to think that last year on New Year's Eve, we were the four of us boats on a little beach having a potluck dinner and boogie board surfing until nine at night! Since then, we have crossed the Panama Canal, the Pacific Ocean, the International Date Line and approximately seven time zones!  Commemorating all this, we raise our glasses and wish everyone a good 2016!

2016 New Years fireworks in Auckland ! 

In about a week from now, we will be hauling Amelie out of the water to get some work done and in about one week, we will temporarily move out of our home and move into our new home: the camper van which like Amelie is also a mobile home and it will take us exploring through this amazing country of Aotearoa (Maori name for New Zealand meaning "land of the long white cloud")!