Sunday 17 September Bay of Islands

 We have an early start this morning as we are anchoring in the Bay of Islands at 8 am, so no gym this morning. It is a beautiful sunny morning but only 8 degrees. We have a lie in and then breakfast and we are ready to pick up our shuttle tickets by 9.10 am. Our number is 19 but we are told it is loading now, so we race back to our cabin to get our stuff.

It is a 15 minute shuttle ride to the pier and then shuttle bus to  the town of Paihia which is about a 10 min ride. The ship is using three shuttles and everything is going ahead smoothly and efficiently. We have decided to head to the Waitangi treaty grounds which is only a five minute walk from the pier. This area is very respected by the Māori as it is where their treaty was made and signed with the British.

It is a $60 NZ entry fee per person which includes a culture experience and a guided walking tour. The grounds themselves are lovely and well kept with artefacts laid out and a number of museums to attend. In one is a memorial to all Māori and kiwis who died in the world wars. All the names are printed on the walls and in the centre is a curved structure made out of small blocks of wood. Each block represents a fallen soldier. On one side is the end of the block, while on the other side is a coloured stone, with each colour signifying which war the soldier died in.

We then move on to the cultural performance which is held at the Te Whare Runanga or meeting house. We have to wait outside and not enter until we are challenged. Our host wants a volunteer to be a chief. As no one else volunteers I put my hand up. I have to stand about 10 feet in front of everyone else while I am challenged by a Māori warrior. After the challenge some leaves are placed on the ground and I have to approach and pick them up and retreat as a sign we come in peace. We are then allowed to enter the meeting house. As I am the chief I am entitled to have a front row seat with Mrs Chief. But now I have to receive a welcome from the chief of the meeting house and then I have to respond in kind to his welcome!

They then put on a display of singing and dancing which included demonstration of their weapons. This also involved me standing as still as possible as they practiced and demonstrated their killing moves around my body! Needless to say I survived and was able to leave with my tribe at the conclusion of the experience. It was a rewarding experience and well worth it.

We had spent so much time there that we did not feel like rushing into the town, so we decided to head back to the ship. Back on board we had a light lunch and an lazy afternoon until we upped anchor at 3.50pm. It was time to farewell our last port of call with a wine on our balcony. The sun was on our side and it was a pleasant 20 degrees.

As we sailed out of the Bay of Islands the wind increased but later on died down a bit. The captain has told us we are heading into 40 kmph winds overnight with a 1.5 metre swell and for tomorrow a building swell to 4 metres! To make matters worse we received our disembarkation notices late this afternoon 🥺.