North Island - Day 3

View off the point at Mangonui - a coastal village on the north end of the north island. For the record, it's only rainy/cloudy here every second hour - the sun just has a personal vendetta against my camera and so disappears when I try to take photos. a waka - traditional Maori boat. This one is said to be very special. It travels around to all the Pacific islands every year with no modern navigational equipment on board - the crew uses the stars. Also, the day it arrives and the day before it leaves Mangonui harbour, wild dolphins come and swim around it. Mangonui View off the porch at the marae (Maori meeting place/village) I stayed at. We hiked barefoot up those mountains, crossed an icy stream, drank from an underground spring and picked watercress for breakfast. The archetypal Maori village. [as per Whale Rider] Karen in the kitchen. The house used to be a cow shed and the floors are original and gorgeous. freshly caught Parore fish from off the pier (Tania & their other housemate from Denmark went fishing at sunset while Karen and I stayed at home, napped and had one of those nice long midwifery themed chats . . . )