The Mighty 'Tane Mahuta'

I spent 2 nights at Opononi, a small town located in Hokianga Harbour. Opononi became well known in the 1950s due to the appearance of a friendly dolphin that not only performed various tricks but allowed children to ride on its back. The locals christened the dolphin 'Opo'.

A BBC reporter captured Opo in action on film and this documentary, entitled 'Opo - The Gay Dolphin' is played daily at the Opononi Visitor Centre. Some tourists were overheard to have asked "How did they know the dolphin was gay?" Read more about Opo at

http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaLife/Dolphins/5/ENZ-Resources/Standard/5/en

Besides Opo, Hokianga is also home to the biggest Kauri tree in the world located in the Waipuoa Forest Reserve. Known to the Maori as "Tane Mahuta" or "Lord of the Forest", it is estimated to be 2,000 years old and the volume of its trunk is approximately 244 cbm, which would produce enough timber to build 10 houses.

Pictures: (1) me at Opononi with the sand-dunes in the background, (2) the Hokianga Harbour, (3) info on the biggest Kauri in the world and (4) Tane Mahuta.

Goodbye, KeriKeri

Having spent 10 weeks in KeriKeri, it was time to move on. Most backpackers who arrived at Hone Heke Lodge later than me had left much earlier. Besides the fruit picking season is coming to an end.



Anyway, I left KeriKeri on 21 May 2008 to go to Paihia, just a mere 25 km away. During summer, there would be 50 backpackers waiting in a queue for their fish and chips. Now it is so quite.




Just 20 minutes walk from Paihia is Waitangi, where a treaty was signed in 1840 between local Maori chiefs and British Government, thus allowing British to declare sovereignty over Aotearoa (New Zealand).







Pictures: (1) Paihia at nightfall (2) me in a Maori Meeting House and (3) partial view of a Maori Meeting House.

Kiwi Picking

Kiwi picking has started. This is such a relieve after being jobless for 2 weeks and doing odd works like trench digging, carrying camera equipments for a pregnant photographer, moving house and best of all - picking cigarette butts.



The bad news is, there's a bunch of Germans on the team who picks really slow and it piss me off. Kiwi pickers work in a team of 10 - 15 people and earnings are split equally. So fast pickers like me (and a few others) end up picking for the slower ones and everyone gets paid the same amount at the end. It puzzles me why it takes 2 weeks for the contractor to get rid of the slow pickers. And she has been working in kiwi orchards for over 15 years!



Back to the fruit, I now realize there are 2 types of kiwi; green and gold. Not really sure why it's called gold while the flesh is actually yellow in colour. Of course the gold kiwi is priced higher in the market and pickers like me get more money too. Despite the occasional rain and we couldn't work (kiwi must be picked dry), it was a great experience picking kiwi - and I've learned how to drive the tractor too.



Pictures: (1) A typical kiwi orchard and (2) me.