We made it to New Zealand! Our first stop on January 28 is Russell, the northernmost city on the North Island. Russell, also known as Kororareka, is the gateway to the "Bay of Islands", containing 150 small islands with deep blue waters and coarse sandy beaches. Russell, which used to be the capital of New Zealand, was called "the hell hole of New Zealand" in the 1800s. This is because of its rowdy reputation from having whalers, pirates and prostitutes frequenting the port. Today it is a charming town with colonial era buildings, shops and restaurants.
The landscape here is hilly and lush, as it has a subtropical climate. Today it was 77 degrees, as it is the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere.
As we strolled around the town, we visited the old Pompallier tannery and printery, started by Marist priests from France in the mid 1700s. There is a simple white Anglican church surrounded by a cemetery for both Maori and European settlers who lived in the area. The house for the police chief has a massive fig tree next to it. I walked up to Flagstaff Hill and was rewarded with a gorgeous view of the town and surrounding bay and islands. If the rest of New Zealand is as pretty as Russell, we are in for a real treat!
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| A pod of bottlenose dolphins greeted us as we got to Russell |
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| The (restored) Pompallier mission, tannery and printery |
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| A view of the harbor from Russell |
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| A troupe of actors recreating the "hell hole" days in Russell. |
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| More of the actors portraying the rowdy days in the 1800s |
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