Day: June 26, 2018

To continue on with some of the things we have experienced here, I will tell you a little bit about the Bay of Islands. This is located in the Northland of New Zealand and is a beautiful bay full of many small islands.

Saturday, May 26th

Today was really a wonderful day! In the sense that we got to have a day of fun and sight seeing by exploring the Bay of Islands. We ate breakfast in the hotel and then packed up and loaded our belongings in the van so we could make it out on the pier by 8:45 A.M. Our boat was leaving at 9:00 to take us on a three hour tour of the islands.

Sunrise, looking out from our hotel room this morning!

We loaded onto a beautiful big boat owned by a company called “Great Sights”, for a three hour tour visiting Hole in The Rock (no, not the one at Lake Powell!), and a dolphin tour.

These pictures don’t really do the boat justice for how big it is. It holds over 200 passengers and had three decks on it. It is a beautiful boat.

Today we were in some pretty choppy water with winds around 30 MPH. However, this did not bother the boat we were on. I don’t know for sure how big it was, but it was new, with big engines and the bumpy water did not phase it. If you went outside on the decks the wind hit you so hard you could hardly stand up, but inside it was smooth sailing. I would have rather been outside but the weather was too cold to stay out there very long. However, the sky was clear and it did not dampen the views of this beautiful area. I have to say though, we did not see any dolphins and that was a bit disappointing. But the company guarantees that you see dolphins and when we didn’t, they gave us vouchers to come again for free. That was a good deal for us since our trip cost us each $107.00!

If we had seen dolphins the company will let you don wetsuits and jump in the water and swim with the dolphins! That sounded very intriguing to me but I think I would rather try that in the summer and on a day when the water is not so cold and choppy!

We learned a lot of things about the islands. There are 88 to 104 islands in this bay and they all seem to have a unique history as to who owned them and what happened here. A lot of the Maori wars were fought around here. The English signed their treaty with the Maori’s close to here, and Captain Cook first landed on one of these small islands here. He was the one who actually named this place the Bay of Islands. His boat had 96 crew members and was named The Endeavor. It was a smaller boat than the one we were on and I can’t imagine that many men living on a boat that size for 3 years!

Captain Cook was actually a man raised on a farm and since he was not of high birth, was not eligible for a high rank in the military. However, he was the best navigator in the navy and they gave him his own ship because of how talented and smart he was. In those days they would put double the amount of crew on a boat because generally, half of the crew would die of scurvy before the several years-long trips ended.

On Captain Cook’s 3 year trip to these islands, he did not lose one sailor. He insisted they eat oatmeal and bought celery from any port he landed in, and made the cooks mix the celery in the oatmeal for his men. No one died or got scurvy, and that was a big miracle at that time.

We got off the boat at Russell island and ate lunch at a tavern there. This island was once the wild and crazy place for all sailors to have some R&R. There was something like 80 tavern’s and brothels on the island and believe me, they did a booming business.. We were told that when the missionaries came to the New Zealand islands they stayed far away from Russell island. They figured that place was beyond all hope!

One of the other little islands is “pig island”. A tribe of Maori’s lived on it and owned the only pigs in the country. They would raise them and let other tribes come and buy the meat from them, but they would never sell them a live pig. They wanted to monopolize the pig industry and did a good job of it until one day, a neighboring chief came to the island and told them a war broke out close by, and they needed their men to help them fight it. The pig island chief and his warriors all went to fight this war and while they were gone, another chief brought his warriors over to the pig island and killed all the women, children and old people that their chief had left there, and then stole all the pigs! It was definitely a scheme put together by two chiefs inland who wanted those pigs, and it worked! From then on, pigs were raised all over the place and among all the tribes.

Because it was not raining, our Captain took us out to the open ocean where all the islands ended. There was a big light house on the tip of the last island.

You can go on a 7 hour hike to get to that light house and then spend the night in the little cottage there, and then hike back the next morning All lighthouses are electronic now and there are no light house keepers living at them anymore. Kind of sad but not surprising!

Right close to that island was another huge outcropping of rock with a giant arch in it. This is called “Hole In The Rock” and is a very imposing sight. When the water is not choppy the boat will go right through the hole but we did not do it today. We got close though and it was quite inspiring!

I have to admit that I like sight-seeing with other couples because then I can go shopping with the ladies without John bugging me about what I am buying or looking at! He hung out with the guys and I shopped with the ladies! So fun! I managed to buy John two birthday presents. One was a tie and the other was a little stuffed Kiwi. I have always bought him a little stuffed animal indigenous to the land we are visiting. A Kiwi is definitely representative of New Zealand! I also bought a couple decks of cards for my country card collection at home, a tee shirt and some gold dangly earrings.

One of my favorite things was finding a wall garden of Hens and Chicks! These are my favorites and I think it is a lot because my mother loved them too!

We ate lunch at a Tavern and I had a hamburger that was so big I had to take the top off if it, and the onion rings out of it, to even eat it! It was good though!

After lunch John and Sam hiked up the hill to the famous little church that eventually got established here. But the only picture he took for me was of a flower! What a guanaco! But I do love flowers!

At 3:00 we got on a small boat and rode the ferry back to the town of Paihia (or The Bay of Islands) where we started our excursion. We took a couple of pictures and then went over to an ice cream shop where we all got cones and got ready to go home. The dairy and ice cream in his country is the best of anywhere I have been! Very hard to resist!

John drove us back in the van to Whangarei where we and the Woodard’s picked up our cars, and all parted for our homes. It was such a fun day and we enjoy our association with these two great couples. We are so glad we have made friends with people here that we can do a little sight-seeing of this beautiful land together. By the way, “winter” is a good time to do this as there are not a lot of tourists and nothing is crowded!

Today I am just thankful for good friends here, for the opportunity to explore another beautiful part of this earth Heavenly Father put us on, and that it did not rain on us all day!

Today I thought I would share some of the beautiful places we have had the opportunity of visiting and experiencing while in this country. In our travels, and during our preparation days, we have had the chance to “stop and smell the roses” a few times and, as Dr. Sues said, “Oh my, the things you will see!”

One of our latest little adventures was to visit a Glow Worm cave. I didn’t even know there really were such things before coming to New Zealand! There are so many unique things in this world and it is so fun to discover ones you have never come across before.

Our Zone Conference held on Friday, May 25th, was at was at 10:00 A.M. at the Kamo chapel in Whangarei. All missionaries in the Northland Zone attended the zone conference at the Whangarei Stake center. A fabulous lunch was prepared by Sister Semenoff and her team in the Whangarei Stake.

As usual, the teaching was very good and came from Preach My Gospel. I must say again that President Walker is a very good teacher and the missionaries respond extremely well to him. I always learn from him even though he thinks John and I already know all the answers. I learned this one day when I raised my hand to answer a question he presented to the missionaries! When no one came up with an answer I shook my hand at him. He wagged his finger at me and said, “Sister Ashby, I know you know all the answers! I want one of the young missionaries to answer me!” Well, that shut me up, and I do not raise my hand anymore! Little does he know that I do NOT know all the answers! Do we ever know all the answers? That is what learning for your whole life is all about!

One thing that impressed me the most in our teaching today was how important it is to learn the right order and sequence of teaching the gospel to new investigators. We teach by the spirit, but need to know ahead of time what things to talk about first, and the order to teach the rest of our doctrine in.

It was another wonderful Zone Conference and after the senior office couples did their presentations after lunch, we took off with two of the couples to do some sight seeing, and spend the night in The Bay of Islands. Friday night and Saturday days are a good time to take our Preparation day, and we do it if we don’t have any Saturday appointments, and can spend some time with the other senior missionaries. Seniors are allowed to do this and I guess you could say it is one of the perks of going on a mission when you are older!

On our way to our Hotel in Paihia, we stopped to visit some Glow Worm caves! The caves are located in the country in an area called Kawiti.

This writing was on the cave information site:

“The Kawiti Caves are owned and operated by the Kawiti family.

Your 30 minute guided tour will follow a wooden boardwalk through a 200 metre limestone cave system. Once inside, you will see thousands of glow worms spread across the ceiling surrounded by breath taking stalactites and stalagmites.

As you enjoy the galaxies of glow worms above, your friendly guide will explain the life cycle of the New Zealand Glow worm (Arachnocampa Luminosa) and the intricate webs used to catch their prey. You’ll even get close enough to see the actual body of the glow worm and its stunning blue/green tail light, before you make the return bushwalk through a natural corridor of karst rock formations and pristine rainforest.”

I found our later that the Kawiti family tribe has owned this cave for 400 years! It was part of their Maori tribe land. A long time ago the wife of a neighboring chief ran away from her tribe and came on to the Kawiti lands to hide. She found the cave and moved in! She found a large ledge inside and carved steps out of the stone to reach the alcove where she then hid and lived for a couple of years. At night she would go out and steal food from the fields of the Kawiti tribe to live on. Eventually the Kawiti caught her and felt sorry for her. They let her stay there and would give her food. However, one day the woman’s husband learned where his lost wife was and told the Kawiti Chief that if they did not give her back they would go to war with them and kill the Kawiti people. The chief was a woman at that time and she would not risk that. She gave the wife back and they never heard about her again. Ever since those days the Kawiti family have owned and protected this cave.

(Personally, I think that Chief must have been very mean and abusive for his wife to run away and be willing to live in a cave with poisonous glow worms and Weta bugs!)

I never really knew what Glow Worms were before, but now I do! They are about as long as a match stick and turn on a little light at the end of their body. It glows brighter when attracting prey, like spiders, mosquitoes, flys, etc. They spin a strand of silk that drops a few inches below them. This strand looks like little crystal beads, and a fly is stuck in it if it barely touches it. The worm then hauls the strand up and devours it’s prey. It can last for three weeks, on a mosquito, without eating again. They spin several of these strands along the length of their body and it takes about four hours to make a new strand after they have pulled one up to enjoy their dinner. They stay mostly on the roof of the cave and look like thousands of tiny stars. They live on the roof because during the night, little creatures called Weta bugs, come charging into the caves by the hundreds to feed on the glow worms. They look like cockroaches the size of a man’s hand, and if they bite a human it is bad! However, they have trouble climbing the slick stalagmite/stalactite walls without sliding down before they get to the Glow Worms.

A Glow worm lives about 11 months. They start out as eggs and then go into the larvae stage. As a worm they are sticky and attach to the walls or ceiling. During the last three weeks of their lives they come out of the worm stage and turn into fly’s. They then live for three weeks and during this time they mate and the female lays her eggs in the same spot she hatched in. The worms are territorial and keep a small distance away from each other. If one of the Glow Worm flys touch a crystal strand of another worm, then yep, they get eaten! So I guess you could say they are cannibals! Frankly, I think they are pretty smart!

One other thing….those little chain-like strands the Glow worms drop down to catch their prey with, are terribly poisonous to humans. If you touch a strand and put your hand to your mouth, with only a tiny speck touching your lips or tongue, your throat will swell within seconds and you will stop breathing long before anyone can help you! Yep, dead! I was paranoid about accidentally touching one of them before we got out of the cave!

By the way, the boardwalk we walked on had sink holes under it as deep as four kilometers! The cave was beautiful but a place to be very careful when in it!

70% of the world’s Glow Worms are in New Zealand. 30% are in Australia!

Oh yes, I have no pictures of the Glow worms because a flash from a camera makes the worms all turn their lights off! However, these pictures are just outside the cave.

Ashby’s, Sister Bartlett, Sister Woodard, Elder Woodard and Elder Bartlett. This gives you a glimpse of the beautiful trees and greenery in this country.

The entrance to the cave. We each carried little red lanterns to light our way. The light shines downward and does not make the glow worms go dark.

Our Watiti guide and his wife.

Beautiful scenery around here!

After this very interesting and fun side-trip, we drove to the Bay of Islands where we spent the night at the Kingsgate Hotel. It is a very nice place right across the street from the bay. We were all hungry and had dinner in the hotel. We loved visiting with each other. We don’t get much opportunity to visit with adults and friends who are also serving here from America. We all have a lot in common and end up with a lot to share. There are many outdoor tables and eating places but tonight we were just glad to be out of the weather and eating inside! It was rainy an cold and we were tired, but so thankful for a wonderful day of instructions and then site-seeing.