Bay of Islands

We arrived in the Bay of Islands and it is beautiful.  Yay!  we finally made it to New Zealand.  The Bay of Islands is the site of the first permanent English Settlement.  The Maori had contact with many other nations and Empires before then but those attempts had tried to subjugate the population on arrival.  On every attempt the Maori had pushed them out.  

The British were different in that their settlements started out with missionaries.  The Maori tell the story that because spiritualism was an important part of who they were that they were impressed by the fact that the British sent their spiritual leaders as the first to settle.  They were the reason that England was able to get a strong foothold right from the start.  Eventually that early relationship changed but ironically as the economic and military aspects of British colonization started, the missionary community encouraged the Maori to develop a constitution and a document declaring their independence.    It was these documents, because of how international law is written, that gave the Maori's protections under the crown.  

It is interesting because the Maori are telling a story that is based on partnership.  Like all stories that partnership broke down many times but it is fascinating to know that the Waitangi Treaty establishd by the Crown for the colonists and the Maori people (to establish a means to trade and own land) had been created not out of conflict but was the first such colonial treaty (and i think the only one) to have not been sought to end conflict but to prevent it.  Yes there were, as in all Imperial stories, breakdowns but to hear it spoken from the Maori guides it was on both sides.  As the Maori chiefs used the colonists to give them vital supplies in exchange for weapons.  Weapons they could use against their blood enemies (the other Maori tribes on the Island).

Anyway the Bay of Islands has the oldest and well preserved settlements in addition to the spot in 1840 where Maori chiefs from all over the North Island and the British colonial delegation came to sign the Waitangi Treaty.  It is considered the treaty that created today's modern nation of New Zealand.  One where at least in theory in the beginning and then in reality many years later that both Maori and British Colonists had equal rights to the land, it helped establish a means of trade of the land between the two groups, etc.  (Yes complications occurred but the interesting thing is the Maori who tell the story do not focus on that).  Its a cultural thing where they look forward instead of into the past.

Another interesting trivia piece.  New Zealand was the first modern nation to grant suffrage to women.  It is thought that it is in most part because of the high status that Maori women play in their culture.

As for the Bay of Islands itself it is so beautiful.  We expected it to be subtropical in nature and it was to some degree but for the most part it looked like a cross between Ireland, the Oregon Coast, Wales, Cornwall and the San Juans.  It was more than quaint and the people were very friendly.  we had a very good day.