Maori and British history.

Our next day in Rotorua took us to a Maori village and a church that had a window beside the altar with a picture of Jesus on it. What was special was that Jesus appeared to be walking on the lake behind him. Unfortunately, like most Maori areas we were not allowed to photograph it, but we could picture the roadway, which was breaking up because of a geyser which was coming through. Can you imagine living here where hot water could boil up though your living room floor at any time?
There was a Maori funeral taking place in the meeting house just across from the church, so we did not disturb them, there were hundreds there from all over the north of the island. Most are Christian, so there was a minister presiding.

Later we went to the Rotorua Bathhouse, one of the most photographed buildings in New Zealand. Built in 1908 to take advantage of the healing properties of the spa, it tempted the "rich, ill and famous" to come to the area to take the waters. Unfortunately the properties of the water soon rotted some of the building away, leading to expensive repairs.When it was finally closed in the middle of the century it first became a night club, then was left to rot for a while until the Government and the local council took it over as an art gallery and museum. We were able to see some of the old baths, and the pipe work in the basement that still exists. Nowadays it has to be carefully air conditioned to preserve it and it's contents.

The view from the roof is excellent, we could see that Rotorua is built entirely in the crater of a volcano, the rim of which can be seen in the distance. About 80,000 tons of water flows every day from the geothermal field below, some into the lake itself. Unfortunately that makes it oxygen poor, which means that little can survive in it.

We have now travelled up to the Bay Of Islands, in the Northland, yet another beautiful area of New Zealand.
The view from our motel balcony is spectacular, right across the bay to the first capital of New Zealand, before Auckland and then Wellington took the title.
This is a big tourist area, which also contains a lot of the early history of NZ. Readers will remember that last week was Waitangi day here, when NZ celebrated the signing of a treaty between the British and the Maoris, and we witnessed a local celebration near Hastings.

We are now very close to Waitangi itself, where the original treaty was signed, and we took advantage of this to visit the area where it all happened
On 6th February 1840 Captain William Hobson landed here to negotiate the treaty with around 500 local Maori chiefs, who had arrived here on foot and in war canoes to negotiate and sign the paper which gave the British Crown the right to rule New Zealand, and protect the Maories from the many rogues and scoundrels who raided the coast around.
It also gave the Maories the rights to possession of their lands, their forests and their fisheries.
Each year on the anniversary re-enactments take place here and in many places throughout NZ, this one being the main one which the Prime Minister and many of his ministers attend.

The flagpole now marks the spot where the signing took place, just in front of the house where the James Busby, the local British resident charged with keeping the peace in the area lived, and where the treaty was translated into Maori almost overnight by two local missionaries. It has been carefully reconstructed to show the Resident at work, and now the whole treaty area is maintained for the people of NZ by the National Trust.

I'll finish today's entry with a picture of someone enjoying a healing spa.......