Bloody heathens? What did we do to warrant that kind of abuse? We mispronounced Mt. Maunganui, that’s what we did. “I can sell you the Mt. Maunganui Gold bread, but first I need to teach you to pronounce it correctly” he told us. We copied him, he congratulated us on being fast learners, and then we mangled it again, just because we’re rude yanks. “Bloody heathens” he told us as he handed us our bread. This made my day.
It was all in fun and all very good natured. The people in New Zealand are quick, smart and have an incredible sense of humor. They also have Maori names for everything that are very hard to pronounce – at least for us. Take “Whakarewarewa” for instance. That’s a town nearby. Lets see… ‘wh’ is pronounced like an ‘f’ and… oh, never mind. We just call it that ‘W’ place with the long name. -Rich, the bloody heathen.
It’s looking pretty good for a Monday departure for our 10 or 11 day sail up to Fiji. We’re waiting for a low to pass this weekend and then we’ll try to beat the one you see to the west of New Zealand on the weather chart above (grib file). We’ll keep you informed. -Rich
We took a little break from the boat work and preparations for our imminent Fiji trip to visit Mclaren Falls, about 20 minutes from our boat by car.
Evening at Mclaren Falls.
The falls were really beautiful. The hike to the falls was beautiful. The drive was beautiful. Yea, yea, New Zealand’s beautiful – what’s new?!?
Part of the attraction there are the glow worms along the path to the waterfall. I was expecting to see maybe one or two but when we stuck our heads into a dark hollow under an old tree root system, it looked like a starry sky.
Glow Worms
I just found out that the “glow worms” are actually the larvae of a type of fly – actually the maggots from the fungas gnat! Not quite as romantic as the starry sky metaphor, is it? If you want to learn more, try here.
Just a little side note: these pictures were taken, hand-held, well after sunset. We wanted to visit the falls late in the evening so we could see the glow worms in the dark. Our little Canon camera (Powershot SX260HS) has a handheld night scene mode where the camera takes multiple exposures and combines them to make a pretty sharp final image. I’m really impressed with it. -Rich
One excursion I really wanted to do before we left was to go see the glowworms at McLaren Falls Park, a 420-acre lake land park a few miles outside of Tauranga. Fall is the perfect time to look for glowworms because it gets dark so much earlier.
As we drove through the park I was amazed at how beautiful it was (although I shouldn’t have been surprised–the most minor sights here are generally in remarkably beautiful settings). I made a mental note to come back here during the day, but for now the sun was setting and we were here to look for glowworms. We located the recommended trail and were relieved to see a map. The trail does a loop to the waterfall and back, and it would not be a long walk.
We set out on the trail in dusky bluish light, and it was amazingly beautiful, with that foresty, ferny, mossy beauty that New Zealand does best. We made it to the waterfall which was small but very picturesque. It was still twilight but getting darker, and the glowworms were rumored to be on the upcoming part of the trail. We didn’t really know where to look and just planned to keep a sharp eye out. They look like fireflies but are affixed to surfaces and not moving.
Rich was the one who spotted them first, in a huge hollowed-out tree above our path. We looked in and saw what looked like a starry night sky inside the tree. As it got darker they glowed brighter. We continued on the trail and started to see more and more, coming across impressive batches of glowworms in dark areas but also seeing them increasingly amid the foliage, especially along the river bank. As we moved, the vegetation gave the appearance that the lights were blinking. It was magical, like being amid fairy lights in this beautiful forest.
When we neared the end of the path, the glowworms petered out, and we used Rich’s (now working) phone as a flashlight. We got in the car and now had to find our way out of the park. We drove along the lake and there was still enough light to see and enjoy that. There was a moment of worry when we arrived at the main gate and saw it was closed, but thankfully it opens automatically for cars coming out of the park. I loved McLaren Falls Park but did not feel like spending the night there in our car.
Below are pictures from our hike on the trail in McLaren Falls Park. It was getting dark and since I didn’t have a tripod, one of the pictures is a little fuzzy but it still gives a feeling for the place. It was too dark to get a good picture of the glowworms, but we got one picture of a few that shows their bluish light. –Cyndi
Setting out on the beautiful trail to the falls in McLaren Falls Park. (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand)Lush, green and beautiful vegetation along the trail. It felt like being in the movie Avatar. (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand)The beautiful falls in McLaren Falls Park. (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand)As it got darker it got harder to get a good picture, but I like this one anyway. (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand)The best picture we managed to get of gloworms. Next time we’ll bring a tripod. (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand)
The list is getting short and so is the time. Not only is it getting cold here but our visas expire on June 6th and so it’s a good thing. The few remaining tasks on the to-do list should be done this week and we’ll start looking for the perfect weather to sail to Fiji (or at least marginally acceptable!).
You might notice that we made the list more manageable by creating a “should-do” column. The chances of that stuff getting done are getting more and more remote. Oh well. This is a big improvement over our last list (at the bottom of this post). -Rich
