Saturday, 19 February, 2005
Dundee: 12:03 p.m., PST
I hope you've have checked on the recent pictures from the hike up the headland to the Maori Pa. Dawn didn't say, but I suspect the photo entitled "Our Beach", a view back from the top of the headland, shows the Janke bach. (My money's on the biggest, highest building ;). Anyway, let me share with you what Dawn had to say about the excursion:
So yesterday we walked up to the top of the Pa. It was formally the Tare Re Historical Reserve with a
traditional Moari Pa or fort on top of a tall headland. It was very narrow at the top and you could
look all around you. Very steep. I am sending photos. It was a lovely walk, nicely maintained track and not too long. The track started at the top of the street - maybe a block away for the house.
Visitors might have wondered why Dawn sent - and I included - a snapshot of a cicada. Here are Dawn's words on the topic:
The sound of the cicadas is everywhere and constant
from the time the sun rises until it sets. I love
that sound. If there was one thing I could bring home
with me it might be that.
On Friday (our Thursday), after a late start due to some screen-door installers coming, the gang went over the Whitianga on a small passenger ferry. (Richard and Becky, who were bringing back groceries, drove the long way around). By the way, "wh" in the language of the Maori is pronounced as "f", so you would say "Fitianga." You can get some excellent information of the Maori language at this site commemorating "Maori Language Week".
Moving along, Dawn and the others spent a pleasent afternoon in Whitianga:
We walked around Whitianga stopping in
whatever shops looked interesting. Elizabeth was
hungry so we got her a hokey pokey ice cream cone. I
bought lots of souvenir gifts for people and some baby clothes for ... my cousin Candys' daughter['s]
pending arrival... We stopped at a bank and Emily was thrilled to exchange her money. I also
cashed in [some] travelers checks. A pharmacy was our next stop - I needed more mosquito
bite medicine, band-aids, body lotion, claratin (claratyne here) and sun block. We had run out of
almost all of the Cortaid, band-aids and sunblock we came with.
Hokey Pokey ice cream is a New Zealand tradition - an ice cream with crunchy toffee chunks. I hope they bring me some back in their suitcase. The next day it was back to the beach:
The weather cleared up nicely in the afternoon so
that Elizabeth could have her promised swim. The tide
was coming in and we kept having to move our chairs
back. Mom and I had books that we were reading while
watching Liz in the estuary. The waves were bigger
than I had seen before, too high for inexperienced
swimmers - or me for that matter. We were there for
several hours, Liz stalked fish (caught two in one
scoop! She was so excited), built sand pools, swum.
Emily was more subdued, she just sat near us and dug a
pool around her chair. She is entering self-conscious
adolescence. I remember how I felt then. There were
a lot more people around us on the beach. We were
used to being there on the weekdays.
Oh yes. I remember it, too.
Gotta go - hor d'euvres are being served.
Err... me too!
