Considered the birthplace of New Zealand, the Bay of Islands is a natural harbor about 10 miles wide on the northeastern coast of New Zealand’s north island. It is home to 144 islands whose landscapes range from rocky outcrops to largely populated islands with private farms. We anchored off Waitangi Wharf and tendered in.
The Maori arrived in the Bay of Islands in canoes as big as a bus. When they reached the short they placed logs under the canoes and rolled them to the base of the mountains, where they picked them up and carried them over the mountains to the west side of the shore. We’re talking some strong guys here! The Maori pretty much had the islands to themselves until the 19th Century, when the British arrived. Eventually the French found them, too, and in 1840 a little more than 500 Maori chiefs signed a treaty with the British government, giving them sovereignty over the island in exchange for protection from the French. The treaty was intended to be drafted in a way that respected the Maori rights, but problems arose. The treaty is drafted in both English and Maori, with the Maori text written as a direct translation of the English text. Unfortunately, some things were lost in translation which led to some unsavory acts by the Brits along the way. In 1975 a tribunal was established to serve as mediator between the Maori and British, interpreting the intent of the treaty and resolving disputes. New Zealanders celebrate the signing of the treaty every February 6th, but it continues to be a controversial document.
As our bus climbed 1,000 feet above sea level to the Manginangina Kaura Walk we enjoyed the soothing beauty of the rolling green hills, orchards and farmlands. The Kaura tree is a towering giant that produces a gum used to make linoleum and varnish. People used to “bleed” the tree to more easily access the gum, a practice that damaged the tree and made it more susceptible to disease. The practice was outlawed in 1905. The forest we visited is home to these trees and one of the last remaining examples of a subtropical rain forest.
From the forest we headed to the Kawiti Caves, a 20 million year old formation created when earthquakes created fissures in the rock and water began to flow through those fissures. The caves were found by a famous female Maori chief and are still owned and operated by her direct descendants. They are home to some 10,000 glow worms, tiny insect larvae that literally glow in the dark. The worms are covered in a stick substance that allow them to attach themselves to the roof of the cave when they are born. They position themselves directly above streams of water where bugs live and release long strings from their bodies. Their light attracts the bugs to them, they get caught in the string, the worm slurps them up…each worm eats a single bug every two weeks. The brightness of their glow indicates how recently they’ve eaten: the brighter the glow the longer its been. The worms live about 11 months. They are hatched from eggs, turn into larvae, the larvae becomes pupa, the pupa becomes an adult insect, mates, lays about 120 eggs and dies. Glow worms are only found in caves of New Zealand and Australia. They are able to survive there because they have no predators in these locations. The birds and bats that would eat them tend to stick to the bush in these areas, where food is in greater supply. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the cave, but Pam found one on the Internet that looks exactly like what we saw. It was magical!
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