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8/12/99 Day 1 on Snow Cloud We chose the Snow Cloud, because Chris was the son of June, the woman we stayed with the previous night in Te Ngaere Bay (at the bottom of the rightly named Million Dollar View Road). Her back garden opened out straight onto the sea, and a view of several (the Caralli Islands?) I will cherish for a while yet. We sat forever out there, watching the sun go down, and chatting about disparate lifestyles. Te Ngaere Bay is fairly close to the final resting place of the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace flagship that the French decided to blow up, killing two people on board, while it docked in Auckland harbour. The men who did it - who were captured, and tried - were, of course, let off scot-free by their government. The Kiwis still haven't forgotten or forgiven the act. We would've paid tribute at the monument, but couldn't find anywhere to park the car. The first day out on the Snow Cloud from Whangaroa Harbour, I caught a pig fish and a moray eel (thrown back after it literally tied itself into knots). Chris caught a scorpion fish, which looked like it was the original model for The Simpsons' three-eyed, mutated fish, with its eyes bulging so large. He later donated it to us for our supper. According to Charlotte, everyone in the (small) party applauded when I tried snorkelling on my own. (I can't really swim.) Didn't see much, though. As on Day 2, we both steered the ship and looked very nautical. Perhaps. A whale, penguins and several seabirds were spotted in the waters... damn it! I've had enough of these tourist brochure homilies already! Bring on the stupid happenstance, so I can find something to make fun of... Addendum. On the way to Te Ngaere Bay (where we ended up staying two nights), we visited some glow worm caves in Kawit. There the jovial Maori guide was at great pains to compare stalactites and rock formations to Whoopi Goldberg's hairdo, and explain that what we see glowing in the dark is really blue, fluorescent poo. At Rapekapeka, we saw the best-preserved Maori fortress in NZ - which actually looked like a few large holes in the turf to us. Still, the hillside surroundings made us burst out into impromptu impersonations of Julie Andrews. (Not for the first or last time, either.) |
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