Kerikeri

We are now in Kerikeri, a town full of history and the beginning of more to come tomorrow (Russell, Waitangi).

First I need to tell you about the fantastic camping ground (Top 10 Holiday Parks) which has facilities better than most in Europe. The amenities block has lino on the floor and stainless steel shower cubicles. After showering in dirty amenities blocks with concrete floors for the past four nights we are pretty excited about this site. Also there is a lovely lounge room and the kitchen area is spotlessly clean, with lots of microwaves, toasters, hotplates and sinks. The place is very popular with pack packers as you can imagine. We also have our own water tap and and grey water disposal point. The cost is the same as three nights ago $36 (£18). Also the washing machines only cost $3 (£1.50) a wash.

Tomorrow night we will stay in another Top 10 site in Russell. Take the opportunity while we can get it. This side of Northland (Bay of Islands) is also considerably more affluent than the west side of Northland.

Kerikeri was the first place that was settled by European settlers who brought with them religion (missionaries), literacy, civilisation (as we know it). This place could have been Auckland but those who made decisions wanted to establish a major settlement elsewhere in NZ. It all came about because a missionary, called Samuel Marsden, become friendly with two Maori chieftains, who were visiting Sydney. They were impressed with many aspects of western civilisation and also with Samuel Marsden and invited him to come to NZ with a few more missionaries to set up a mission by their Pa (fortress) in Kerikeri. The chieftains were very interested in muskets too, and managed to purchase a large number, through selling off gifts that had been given to them by British royalty when they visited England. The chieftains used the muskets to take over quite a bit of Northland, which was not the intention of the missionaries. Now Samuel Marsden was well liked in NZ and the history books really praise him. However, in Australia, he was reported to be a very nasty and cruel man and spent a lot of time there whipping and hanging convicts. Perhaps in NZ the warlike Maori people subdued him somewhat. So today we visited the oldest house in NZ and the grain stores plus a Maori village.

Tomorrow we visit Russell, which is meant to be the first official European settlement in NZ. Are they in competition with Kerikeri, I wonder.

This morning we also stopped for coffee at a small settlement called Kaeo, a very quaint place. It was just one small street which consisted of three cafes and a few shops. No matter how small or remote the place is here in NZ you can always get a really good latte. We are very happy with this arrangement.