63 and free

REALLY old stuff, Disney, birds and a sailing ship.

We started the day at Kerikeri, which is home to the oldest building in New Zealand: the mission house. The skeleton of the house was completed in 1822 by the Reverend James Butler. He was sacked a year later, and the house was occupied by George Clark until 1832, when it was purchased by James Kemp, a missionary and blacksmith who had moved into the area in 1819. Him, and then his descendents lived in the house until 1974! Yikes.

Dec 16th, 2022. Mission House. The original veranda was quite small. The larger one was added in 1843.
The back of the house. The ‘skilling’ or back ‘lean-to’ was added in the 1830’s.
James Kemp’s blacksmith shop, dating from the early 1820’s. Not well cared for. 😲
The ‘Stone House’. It has been trading goods since 1836.
View of the river in front of the mission. The falls separate the fresh water upstream from the salt water estuary downstream.
A view of the mission area from across the river.
The inside of the house was not level, and full of character.

Okay, you might be getting sick of waterfalls, but we aren’t. This is “Rainbow Falls”, located right in Kerikeri.

It’s almost impossibly perfect. Felt like something in Disney World.

Then it was on to the “PARROT Place”!

No idea why this bird liked my hair.

We finished the day by taking the ferry over to the town of Russel. It has a fascinating and very jaded history that is beyond the scope of this blog. History buffs would love it. “The Barbary coast” of old New Zealand.

Anywho. We did a cruise on a sailing ship. Yours truly lent a hand…

The “R. Tucker Thompson”.

It was a full-on Bernie day.

Major road trip tomorrow. Stay tuned.

David and Bernadette Harris

6 responses to “REALLY old stuff, Disney, birds and a sailing ship.”

  1. Granddad Avatar
    Granddad

    Loved the picture of the old family organ. In their days, it was probably their main source of enjoyment!

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    1. David and Bernadette Harris Avatar
      David and Bernadette Harris

      I bet you are right. It’s tough to imagine what life was like there and then…

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  2. viggocycle Avatar
    viggocycle

    By following your blog I am getting free history lessons about NZ, very interesting. There is certainly a lot of interesting places to see. We never went north of Auckland so this is unfamiliar territory to us. I thought we saw a lot in the 2 1/2 weeks we were there, but I guess it doesn’t matter how long you spend in a place, there is always more to see. You seem to be having a great time.

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    1. David and Bernadette Harris Avatar
      David and Bernadette Harris

      Glad you are enjoying it Viggo. It really is a spectacular place. So much going for it that there is no surprise that immigration is essentially impossible!

      Was fascinated by the length of time the Kemp family stayed in that house. He moved in before the battle at the Alamo, and his descendents left the property to the historical society after the last man walked on the moon!

      Pippin has us making 24 stops in 68 days, so she is hopeful that we will see EVERYTHING. 😂

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  3. Chic Avatar
    Chic

    New Zealand appears to be so-o-o green. A nice sight for those of us who have been seeing grey, tan, ochre, beige and now white, white, and more white for the last while. I enjoy seeing where you have hiked and viewing what you have visited. And I meant to say this earlier – I’m so sorry about your cocktail glass – you should pack them in your shoes and stuff t-shirts around them.

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    1. David and Bernadette Harris Avatar
      David and Bernadette Harris

      New Zealand is actually largely rolling cow pastures that happen to be green right now because of a very wet early summer. But the forests that do remain are absolutely magical.

      Figured Calgary was white…which isn’t bad at this time of year, right?! #silverlining

      We got lucky and were able to get a replacement!! Happy hours are back on, though far more infrequently and far later in the day. Call it the “Pippin effect”…very, very busy…

      🤓

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