Tauranga, on Majestic Princess

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Having left Auckland successfully the night before, we woke to the sights of Tauranga, where, after breakfast, we took in the sights of part of the town on the way to Elms Mission house.

Apart from the galvanized iron roof and the security lights under the eaves, the original inhabitants would not notice the passage of the years.

The Catholic’s established a mission station in the area in 1840, Bishop Pompallier
Was given land at Otumoetai within the palisades of the Pa [Fortified Village] for a church and presbytery.

The first resident priest was Father Viard, who ws in close competition with the Church Mission Services for converts for the first 23 years, and only closed the station in 1863, because of the effect the Waikato Land Wars, which spread to Tauranga the following year.

During the 1820’s the missionaries from the Bay of Islands visited the Tauranga district to obtain supplies of potatoes, pigs and flax.

On one visit in 1828, they found that the Otamatana Pa had been raided by visiting war parties from Thames, and the few remaining survivors had fled.

In the 1830’s the missionaries had decided to expand their work to the South, and establish stations in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

The northern end of Te Papa peninsula was chosen as a suitable site because it lay close to the harbour’s entrance, and between the two Pa’s [Fortified villages].

Several attempts were made to establish a station there, but were abandoned due to the risk from warring tribes.

In 1838, the Rev. Alfred Nesbit Brown, his wife Charlotte and their two children Marsh and Celia managed to make a permanent residence.

To consolidate their presence at Te Papa the Rev. A N Brown purchased some land from the local tribes, an initial 12.5 hectares in 1838 and an additional 240 hectares in 1839.

These deeds of sale were signed by the local chiefs of their tribes.

The mission station consisted of several Raupo [reeds] houses for the missionaries, a shed for the carpenters, a store for the supplies and a boat shed on the beach at the foot of a cliff.

The Rev, Brown arranged for work to be commenced on the permanent buildings, and the first to ne completed, in 1838, was the library, to which he added a fireplace and chimney in 1842, when he found that the books were suffering from the damp.

Until the mission house was completed in 1847, the Browns lived in a Raupo hose, the site of which is marked on the North lawn.

The garden was of great impotrance to the settlers, not only for the food that they could put on the table, but the addition of flowers etc to recreate a small part of England.

One of the land marks of the times were the planting of Norfolk Pines to mark the position of the various missions up and down the country.

Because of their distinctive shape and size, as well as not being a native, they would guide visitors to the mission stations.

Also, when new growth is occurring at the top of the tree, the first set of branches form a cross, at the very top of the tree.

The Rev. Brown was busy and successful in his attempts to take the Christian message to the Maori of the Bay of Plenty, and walked for many months of the year over rough tracks, and in all weathers, to visit remote settlements where he preached and prepared converts for baptism.

He was made Arch Deacon in 1843 in recognition of his efforts.

Today the station is a Historic Site, and larger touring parties are escorted around the site by volunteers, who are only too keen to tell the visitors the history of the place.

The walkways are all edged and covered with broken seashells.

The entrance to a replacement Chapel, still showing the tiles/slates of the time on the roof.

Inside the Chapel.

Something the kids of today would have no idea what it is.

A record player, from before the circular disc was introduced, the tracks are cut into a wax cylinder, and the handle is used to wind up a spring. Some of the early models could also be used to make recordings with as well.

These were replaced by the 78 rpm record players in the 1900’s.

Having completed our history lesson or the day, we re bused and saw some more of the sights on the way to a Golden Kiwi Fruit farm.

Unusually, we were allowed to walk under the growing vines and fruit, this is usually discouraged after a disease swept through the Green Kiwi Fruit orchids a few years ago.

Fortunately, the Golden Kiwi Fruit are hardier and more resistant to the disease, so we were able to visit this very young orchid,

Over the top is a net to prevent heavy rain or hail marking the outside of the fruit, as this would prevent it being sold on the premium markets in USA and Japan.

The second grade, with slight marking, slightly to big or small, are sold to the Australian market, while the remainder are sold to NZ.

Half way through their growth cycle the fruits look like this, these vines are so young that this will be the first time the crop will be picked.

Because the farming is so intensive, the growers use overseas workers just about all the year around, pruning, shaping, and endeavouring to maximize the crop that they can pick.

We then were taken to an old village hall for a ‘cup of tea’, this is ensuring that the hall is getting used, as a lot of the halls are now shut up and maybe used once or twice a month, until they slowly rot away.

While I was talking with them, it turns out that Papa Pepper is the only person who uses a razor to remove the fur, most of the locals said that they eat them fur and all.

Then, back to the ship for a small refreshment or two.

That evening and the following day, we were entertained by a Maori group teaching the passengers how to do the Haka, as demonstrated so well by the All Blacks.

The official log For Tuesday 18th gives distance travelled as 134 N Miles at 17.6 Knots, and, at noon, force 3 winds [7-10 knots] and a temperature of 27o C.

with thanks to son-of-satire for the banner