Part 2: Dialogue is the food of the chiefs.

Part one here!

 Ahh... Day two of New Zealand: Northland Field Trip, traveling from Paihia to Kerikeri!

Woke up on a beautiful day in Paihia with breakfast on the beach! Some people got up early for an early morning swim and others just gathered later for food. 

Our sea view!

Everyone looking at what's for breakfast.

Mine!

I love pineapple! So I piled it up on top of my cereal and yoghurt. We also had other canned fruit but the fresh pineapple pretty much drowned out the taste of everything else!

After breakfast, we headed into the town's main area (like four minutes walk away) and gathered on this patch of grass. Paihia is the main base for tourism in the Bay of Islands. As a tourist you can participate in many activities and visit heritage sites in Waitangi, Russell and also Kerikeri.

We met with Jo Gill who works for Intercity Group. Intercity is a big player in Paihia. Jo told us about how today's Fuller's boat tour first started. In 1927, it was originally a cream trip. There are 144 islands that had dairy farms. This guy would take his boat out and take supplies and post to and from these islands as well as collect the cream. The cream trip took 3 days and one day he decided to charge people 5 shillings to go with him. It grew pretty big, everyone wanted to go on the Cream Trip with him. Eventually, collecting cream wasn't needed but he continued the same route for tourists. Ever since him, this business has changed hands many times (PNO, THL, Fullers) but still offer the Cream Trip.

Tourism in Paihia peaked in the 80s and 90s but since then, it has declined. Back then, tourists came from Britain and America but no, there's no more money, less flights are available. Before they had to accommodate 250 people every morning but now it's dwindled down to about 150. In the last few years, the market has switched to India and Asia. Even Intercity has employed an Asian wholesaler manager who is able to communicate in both English and Chinese fluently. But for Asia, their idea of "people" differs from Paihia's idea. Paihia is pretty happy with just 3,500 people but in Asia, they're used to doing over 1 million per day!

The Regional Tourism Office recognises that it is important to evolve and meet the needs of a changing market. In Paihia, it is incredibly very seasonal. Good pointers are what airlines are doing, they keep an eye out for what airlines are targeting as well as communicating closely with the community.

The problem in Northland is seasonality. Intercity have some permanent contracts where staff come in the summer and in winter they leave to another part of New Zealand but continue working under the same company. They've worked it out so that staff can't take holidays in the summer and only take them in winter so they can continue to be employed all year round. Some work 6 months in the ski field and the other 6 in the Bay of Islands. Sounds like a pretty good deal if you ask me, but I'm not sure how good the pay is so perhaps it's not quite that glam.

There's another giant company (I think it's an international company) that brings in a cruise ship to the Bay of Islands. You'd think it would have a positive impact on the area but in fact it's done the opposite. That company operates on a schedule, clients pay for the cruise and it includes all food and accommodation. The only reason tourists spend money would be for souvenirs but they are all nervous about the fixed time limits so tourists don't really hang around much to spend money. Intercity had this $15 million investment in an overnight cruise boat but they now might have to sell it because things have changed so much, especially after the financial crisis. There's no way to compete. The only other way is to do specials like a mix of 3 days ($95 ish) where 2 of the days you head up to Cape Reinga (which is an iconic point so everyone should go anyway) and the 3rd night, you get 30% off. If you decide to stay longer, they'll give the option of throwing in two free Russell tickets so you can take the ferry over there.

It's tough isn't it? Even if you are one of the biggest players in the area, you just can't compete with international giants!

I think it's quite awesome that the town's decoration has this wave motif. There's that wavey bench...

This mosaic path... which points towards the ocean!

Cool wooden dolphin! Kids were climbing onto that to get their pictures taken.

Not sure if that's his real name or if it's also a gimmick to get tourists to join.

There were these flags of different countries painted on the path leading away from the beach!

Couldn't help myself when I saw this cute wall decor in a cafe!

This is how they advertise their real estate...

An attempt at group work outside the real estate office.

Kawakawa

Our first stop after leaving Paihia is Kawakawa, 16 kms south from Paihia. To get here from Paihia, you take the SH11 back towards SH1. I think normally people would stop at Kawakawa first before heading to Paihia. Kawakawa is famous for its public toilets, doughnuts (so I've been told but he came from there so maybe it's a bit biased) and these train tracks that run down the middle of the main street. If you're from places like Melbourne where it's common to see trams running down the middle of streets, then you're probably not going to be impressed. But for the rest of us, it's really a strange sight to see. In fact, one of the drivers ran into a bit of a problem when leaving the area.

There was this Austrian artist called Friedensreich Hundertwasser who influenced the development of the town in an artistic way. I got the impression that tourists only stop by to see the toilets... when you see the toilets, you'll notice that this guy... really hated straight lines. Joe F. told us a story about how when he was a kid, he had to paint this line (the water line?) on Hundertwasser's boat. Traditionally, it's supposed to be a straight line, so Joe spent almost the whole day putting tape onto the side of the boat. Hundertwasser saw it when he was just about finished and was like "wtf you doing boy?!". Joe had to remove it and he painted a very squiggly line. It was squiggly because the only way he could do it was sitting in a tiny dinghy, which bobbed to the waves.

The wall of the toilets!

Pretty cool, right?

Toilets from across the road.

Seat across the road from the toilets.

Mural influenced by Hundertwasser.

Toilet signs...

Inside the toilets... "no straight lines!"

Final picture in Kawakawa. Excuse my fatness, yes that is a doughnut I'm holding.

Moerewa

After we left Kawakawa, we headed off to Moerewa which is like 5kms away. It doesn't look that bad, looks a bit deserted... but everyone we told "we're stopping in Moerewa" all gasped and told us to be careful. So I guess it's got a reputation for being a pretty dodgy little town. We got told by parents to take valuables and don't leave the car unlocked. But no one on the actual trip said anything much. But from personal experience, it would probably be best to NOT coo over the local dogs. They can be vicious.

Look at our van decoration! Cute!

Felt like taking a picture of her shoes. For some reason, looked really good on camera lol

Said vicious dog. My god, this was one overprotect dog.

I'm not too sure what that is...

Anyway, Moerewa is a tiny rural town that's trying to build itself up again. Apparently it was once considered a boom town (60s and 70s). There was an economic downturn in the 80s and many of the town's industries closed down. We stopped at Tuna Cafe for lunch where we listened to Ngahau Davis's very inspirational and touching speech. He's the guy who runs the He Iwi Kotahi Tatou Trust and is trying to revitalise Moerewa and its community.

I'm almost certain there's not a trace of tuna available for consumption here.

Mr Davis was very welcoming! He gave this really homely vibe but it wasn't until he was RIGHT INTO HIS SPEECH that I felt so touched and heart warmed by his passion and desires. He's truly a very inspirational character who advocates that belonging is important. How others define you, how the community acts... a stable community with people looking after one another? Yeah, that's life.

He's really into the whole "returning back to your roots/hometown" movement. Today, people make these grand plans that fit a time frame they know but hardly think beyond that. There's a migration idea where everyone seems to be moving; chasing the economics, leaving the small towns for the big cities, believing that is the only place you can reach your dreams.

He's got a goal of creating a better life, a better community and many think it's living in the big city. But he thinks it can be done anywhere. You gotta be participants if you want to create a thriving town and to do this, there needs to be communication... there needs to be dialogue. His favourite sentence seemed to be "dialogue is the food of chiefs". You sit and listen, see the bigger picture, look at the wider view. It's important to be able to talk and also be able to do all that. So he works for the town to have conversations about everything and anything, otherwise you'd end up with nothing. He tries to think of ways of how to make difficult conversation easy and fun. He returns to the basic values - around respect, honour, taking care of elders. These are the basic things that are in everyone's past, we come from these things but many aren't practicing these values. Since more people became engaged in dialogue, the down has experienced a decrease in vandalism, an increase in education, increase in local participation and an increase in entrepreneurship. The major thing I took away from him was that you have got to create an opportunity for yourself! Don't just sit and wait. Talk and do.

No idea what the words on the wall say but I thought it was pretty cool decor. This is us grabbing our food.

The food. I love original taste so this meal was so good to me.

During the week, we had so much lettuce and cucumber! I love them! Ham also grew on me a lot during this trip! Roast potatoes, surimi, pasta... "plain original taste". Some of you are going to be like wtf ew but no, it was delicious. I wasn't even hungry.

Having a photo... I'm almost completely hidden.

Ngawhai Springs
After we left, we made a short stop at Ohaeawai to complete an academic exercise, the last for the day before we headed off to Ngawha Springs. Ngawha Springs is under 25kms from Moerewa. You can get there by taking SH1 and turning off into SH12. Just follow the road signs! Ngawha Springs are very basic hot pools known for their healing properties. Don't expect a grand spa experience! For $4 a person, you'll get to try 15 pools.

There are pools for sport injuries, relaxation, treatment of burns, aching bodies, skin complaints and even chest congestion. When you get there, you should get a piece of paper that gives a short introduction to what each pool does. There aren't any showers there (actually, maybe there's a hose somewhere but I didn't see it?) and no place to chuck your stuff or hang your towel. So it's best to leave all your crap in the car or just go there with just enough cash so you won't need to deal with change.

The Mt Rushmore of NZ? Just opposite the springs outside the complex.

"Landscaping" of some of the pool area.

Told you it's cheap.

Cute! I didn't even notice it and wouldn't have if I didn't trip over myself.

The area beside the springs...

There's a couple of mud pools where you can mud yourself up!

I think the best advice I can give you is to not wear your most expensive swim gear, or bring your favourite towel, or take nice clothes to change into afterwards. Because if you do get into the springs, your clothes will stink for weeks. Also, it's best to not wear jewellery into the springs, the sulpher WILL change the colour so unless you want your gold bracelet to turn green or some weird colour, take it off.


Our last stop for the day was Aroha Island. It's in Kerikeri which is about 50kms from Ngawha. You can get there by taking Waimate North Road before turning onto SH10 towards Kerikeri Road. If you take this route, you'll pass by New Zealand's second oldest standing building - Te Waimate MIssion House. It was built in 1832, it has connections to the Treaty of Waitangi and a significant site between Maori and Pakeha.

Aroha Island

Aroha Island is 5 hectares and is surrounded by mangroves. It is linked to the mainland by a causeway so when we drove to the island, it didn't really feel like we drove onto an island. In fact, I just searched on Google Maps and I can't actually tell it's an island. According to my notes, it's owned by the QEII (Queen Elizabeth II, I guess?) National Trust and is managed by Aroha Island Charitable Trust.

Apart from being a good campground, a nice BBQ area and surprisingly good facilities, you also have the chance to see kiwis!!! Real, live, actual wild kiwis! Don't be fooled like most of us though, the lecturers got us all psyched up and when we arrived there, we found out that there are 5 kiwis on the island. There's a local pair (as in the two see Aroha as their home to which they return to), and a second pair that has migrated to the island (they might leave, who knows) and a lone kiwi. Forever Alone. lol.

Here's one of my group members trying to set up our tent for the night! The tent claimed to be for 4 people but it was huge, even had a covered porch. Luxury I tell you. I half expected it to turn into one of those tents from Harry Potter...

Model of the island...

There's this information center on the island where you can purchase things, make donations and look at models. But other than that and camping, there's not much you can do on the island. You can take walks around it, through the bushes... and hope to see a kiwi. It's quite hard to, you have to go at night as kiwis don't like the light. If you bring a torch, cover it with red cellophane. But you have to be really quite as you walk through the bush. Stop and take a seat in darkness, let your eyes adjust to the natural night light and hopefully a kiwi might scurry across your path. Don't wear jandals (flip flops, thongs, or slippers)! They make too much noise!!! Wear soft shoes so you can walk through quietly. Or you can just barge in and sit there for hours hoping to catch a glimpse.

Or you could go to the zoo, you know. Just saying.

Dinner was delicious. =) Our lecturers and fellow students helped out with the BBQ. We had lettuce, cucumbers, fruit, sweetcorn to go with the meat... I don't even know what else was served. I just had a bit and I was already full!

OM NOM NOM NOM.