Treaty Ground Treat – and Paradise thereafter

Friday, January 26

The following morning we awoke to a mixed bag of weather; certainly unsuitable for a snooze and swim at the close by beaches, so we decide to head southeast and down across the top of the Far North region, via SH1 - the quickest route - to the Bay of Islands and the Treaty Grounds of Waitangi Township in particular. The purpose of this excursion was not to see the locality, as we had visited Treaty Grounds last year in January ('06).

The pictures immediately above and below are from last year's visit.



Instead it would be good idea - so we thought - to see the resident Maori cultural group entertain and inform us with 'a journey' in traditional and contemporary story and song. We wanted to attend the 2.30pm performance.

We mistakenly believed that we were to be entertained in the Maori Meeting House, for a 2-hour long dramatic, live musical - but sadly we were wrong .. :o(

The BIG cultural show occurs during the evening - and oddly, for some reason or other, not on Fridays.

So, what we saw was a cut down version - to just 30 minutes - of what we wanted to see, but nevertheless it was still well worth the NZD $12.00 (GBP £4.26) admission fee.

.. Haka

Immediately after the show had finished we then decide to re-visit what is probably one of our most favourite regions of New Zealand - the Doubtless Bay area - especially the township of Mangonui and its wonderfully peaceful nearby sandy bays & coves - and where here at Coopers Beach ...

... you can fish from the shore ..

... or go swim in the warm sea .. or ..

.. just do - well? .. bugger-all! .. :o)



We check-in to the motel in which we stayed last year - the Acacia Lodge - and ..

.. then make the short walk to the self-proclaimed "World Famous" fish 'n chip shop, which served us up two helpings of ultra fresh battered and deep fried Blue Nose (WTF?) fish and a couple of side orders of spring rolls and salads - but sadly the dozy-cow shop assistant forgot about our helping of chips! and I gets right teasy!! .. :o(

Dusk approached fast as we walked further into the village centre ...

.. and order a Crème Brûlèe dessert (for Ellen) and a bleak-woite coffee (pour moi) from another restaurant

On our return the motel we passed these highly perfumed white trumpet-shaped flowers hanging over the pavement from a roadside garden tree. Just what are these sweet-smelling flowers? I certainly would love to have a tree like this growing in my back yard. What an astonishing fragrance the flowers emit! .. :o)

SUMMARY: Sub-tropical Mangonui is definitely still one of our favourite places in the whole wide world.

Shame about the mozzies though! .. :o( :o(