Some excerpts from
the tourist information map:
Business Paihia – www.paihianz.co.nz
Missionaries were the
first Europeans to settle Paihia in 1823, before the whalers in 1840. They built a home, a store and the first
church in New Zealand, constructed the traditional Maori way using raupo.
Across the water is
Russell – shore destination for whalers and traders – which developed a
reputation as lawless and bawdy, earning the title, “Hell Hole of the Pacific”. Nowadays, there are frequent ferries which
take from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the speed of the boat.
Zane Grey, who books
I devoured during my teenage years, helped to develop and popularize big game
fishing.
Christ Church (a building
in Russell, not the city 80 miles away) is New Zealand’s oldest standing church
and still has the bullet holes from the Maori Wars. No, I don’t know why they have not been
patched.
Haruru Falls, the
goal of our “war canoe” trip is horseshoe-shaped and aori legend says t5hat a
taniwha (water monster) lives in the lagoon below. He wasn’t home when we arrived.
Haruru was an
aramoana – a seaway or ocean path – for the 9 kaianga (villages) between Haruru
and Waitangi (3-4 km). Missionaries
reported seeing between 60 and 100 canoes pulled up on the mud banks.
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