Urupukapuka Island
Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Sat 30 Jan 2010 00:39
|
35.13:33S
174.14:44E
Hi Folks,
Well after a mediocure "Bubba keg" night , Rob went
lightweight on the spirits thankfully, we left our anchorage at Roberton Island
for Urapkapuka Island the long way around, Lyn and Rob preped there fishing
tackle and Zepher was transformed into a fishing boat ! with our lines trailing
we headed out through the islands and into the south Pacific ocean, the sun beat
down, myself and Shaz managed the boat whilst our intrepid fishing people did
there ting ! after some three hrs of trawling up and down with not even a
nibble we called it quites and headed back towards the islands and our night
time anchorage of Urapukapuka island, it made a change though not to loose
fourty bucks worth of lures though!.
With not a puff of air from any direction we
motored for most of the day, batteries loved it but I didnt, theres something
about the sound of water gushing along the hull thats peacfull, unlike the drone
of the iron headsail pounding away anyway we rounded the reef enterance to
Urapukapuka bay and Rob now a fully fledged kedge man dropped the hook and we
settled into the anchorage, we were contemplating launching the Rib but beer
o/clock had arrived and the idea soon faded with the smells of chicken curry and
rice eminating from the galley and the inebriating effect of Robs "Bubba Keg"
starting to influance our desision making we decided to leave it till the next
day.
Up bright and early, nine o/c , sun shinning down
as usual and temps in the 20's we launched the Rib, after eating a hearty
cooked breckfast from Cpt Fluffy's galley, with not a ripple on the water
we landed, nothing like our last visit the whole of the bay was covered with
campers, bloody hundreds of them so it seemed but on doing a count it could only
have been thirty, crowded for a kiwi beach though ! looking along the beach it
was obviouse that the transport out to the island was either by small motor boat
or canoe, the council lay on composting loo's and for those who like to save the
enviroment its a good thing , but for some people the smell just brings up the
breaky quiker than a dodgy oyster and a skin full of beer ....
We trecked from the bay up to the headland,
reading all the information lists posted around it appears that this was a
stronghold of the local Maori, there earth work forts called Phai,s are evedent
all around this region and signs of o former life before the white man arrived,
known as the Pakhia, or "stranger on the shore" its a term the indiginios
population used for the first white settlers, mainly misionaries,whalers, and
settlers from overseas.
It is in this area that the Maori first made
contact, trading there food for Iron ware metal objects and guns, the most
prised posesion of all aparantly it was worth nine pigs and eighty bags of
spuds, the locals started growing large areas of spuds, europian types and
imported pigs to trade with the first whites, and after a few years the local
chiefs who were a bright bunch started aquiring large volumes of the shooting
sticks, they figured that it was a good way of supressing the local opposition
which they did very effectivley, being very good tactical fighters they started
killing off the other tribes who were still armed with clubs and spears, this
leads to the treaty between the crown and the Maori in a nut shell, in an
attempt by other tribes to stop the carnage and genocide that was occuring,
whilst its given only a slight referal by Maori decendants today at the time the
northern tribes were working they way down country, they had got as far as Taupo
and Rotarua, the misionaries as always were the middlemen and seem to spend much
of there time parlaying between white and local, they were very well thought of
and each chief seemed to have a local mission station on there patch, using it
as a conduite to trade and gun collecting from settlers and whalers
alike.
Anyway I digress eough of the history I hear you
cry, well we returned to the boat , stowed the dingy and left the anchorage for
our next bay , sailing down Te Rawhite inlet and into Parekura Bay, the winds
were suposed to turn South West and as we didnt want any ripples in the
anchorage to upset the gin glasses it seemed the best plan.
A Gin and Sun Soaked crew
|