New Zealand on a tight budget.Day 7

Another great day today. We took the car ferry from near Paihia over to Russell - which in itself was quite exciting and drove straight up to the top of Flagstaff Hill for fine panoramic views of the Bay of Islands. The flagstaff was raised after the signing of the Waitangi Treaty but seems to have been cut down and re-erected five times or more due to a bit of a clash of personalities between Maori chiefs and European dignitories. the account is quite funny - I hope you can read it.
From there we went to the excellent Pompallier Mission House (free with NT card) and had a fabulously informative tour. Bishop Pompallier introduced Catholicism to NZ from France. The really interesting part is that he realised that in order to do this he needed to invest in information technology and so brought a printing press and all the necessary equipment to print and produce bibles, prayer books ane hymn books in the Maori language. We were given a full demonstration. It is sobering for me to remember that when I started work as a local paper reporter 40 years ago the type setting methods were largely the same as then (1840s). The Bishop even had a tanning works round the back to produce the leather covers for the books and the original press is still there. Lovely gardens, orchard and a proper NT type tea room next door.
From there we drove towards Cape Brett and parked up in someone's orchard (secure parking $3) to walk to the old Whaling Station at Whangamumu Harbour. This was quite a stiff couple of hours return trip up over a high ridge but well worth it. We met three couples and one baby. The Beach was wonderful and the water very warm. It is impossible to imagine the bay was the scene of such an industry, only the boiler and some tanks remain but there were quite a few photos of the site at work.
Both of these visits throw up many ethical question but I suppose it is only possible to occupy the moral high ground because we are standing on the backs of those who went before.
A short but astonishingly scenic drive along the coast - during which we stopped and picked some peaches from the road side. The camp site is right on the beach and we are sharing it with the NZ Navy who are doing some diving training in the bay. they are keeping us entertained with football matches and diving off the inflatable.