The King Country

Saturday we visited the King country (South of Hamilton). Prior to British colonisation the Maori had no monarch, when the Brits (Pakewa) started buying more and more land, individual iwi (groups) elected a monarch who could act as representative, and put them on an equal footing with the colonists. They believed the Europeans power arose from their unity under the crown. Its a complicated history of colonisation and rebellion involving some brutal encounters and a controversial attack by British forces on a Sunday (a SUNDAY!). In the end the 2nd King retreated to this area of Waikato which is described as "an area of rugged, dissected hill country, with heavy rainfall, where it was difficult for the Government forces to follow". Our first stop was Mangapohue Natural Bridge. The mangapohue river has carved away at the limestone in a spectacular fashion. Sorry for the rapid camera panning...

A small walk through mud and sheep shit (2 features which combine frequently on walks in New Zealand) and you can see lots of white coloured rocks in a mass of dark coloured rock. The white coloured rocks are fossilised oysters. In fact a whole fossilised oyster bed. Quite honestly I would never have guessed it, but since there was a sign saying what it was, we could sort of imagine what they were on about.

a drop of lemon, and then the art is to swallow without chewing

We kept driving towards the delightfully named Marakopa. Another New Zelaand place name that explodes from the mouth. Not much to say about Marakopa the town. There was 1 small snack bar/general store/fishing shop/library. The place is more or less a fishing and surfing "mecca". If you drive on down the coast there is a beach littered with fossils, that you access via a tunnel, sadly we didnt make it that far. I keep reading that Marakopa town is "historic" but nowhere mentions for what reason.


On the way back we made 2 more stops. First at the Marakopa falls. Some (I dont know who) say that the Marakopa falls are New Zealands most beautiful. in a land with over 1500 waterfalls this is some claim, and actually it is not unjustified:

Marakopa-fors

proof we were there

There were new zealand pigeons (kereru) flying about above us. Kereru are big pigeons (at 650g - bigger than the wood pigeons in europe) and are important because they are the only bird big enough to disperse seeds of large fruited trees and shrubs. And if that isnt enough natural history for you, here is a hangehange tree:

As the Maori say: Hangehange, smells quite tangy, eat the berries and bangy bangy.

After the falls we drove back to the Waitomo Caves and, after parting with a substantial amount of money, caught the final tour of the day to the Glow worm Cave. The cave was discovered by a Maori chief, Tane Tinorau, and the more boringly named Fred Mace. The first guide proudly told us she was the great grand daughter of Tane Tinorau! At the end of the tour, our second guide spoke knowingly of Chief Tinorau before letting on that he too was a direct decsendant! We were almost hoping the chinese lady in the gift shop would spin us the samee line, but no luck.

The highlight of the caves are the fabulous New Zealand glowworms (Arachnocampus australis). For those in the UK look here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Arachnocampa#intro (Hopefully there should be a video with Sir Attenborough!). The lowlight, and what can only be viewed as a degredation of Maori culture, was Chief Tane's great grandson singing Boyzones "When you say nothing at all". Ah waitomo... stalactites, glowworms, and boyzone. Thandi spent the rest of the tour in open rebellion (all 30 minutes of it) yelling AH! AH! AH! at the top of her voice and enjoying the echoes - in spite of us stuffing her mouth with biscuits. I think he lost her at "...The smile on my face...."

Boyzone. Can you credit it?

By the way, you cant take photos in the caves - thats why there arent any here.

Thandi, pre glow worms and Boyzone, mostly a picture for grandparents who look at the blog

Boyzone....