After watching the Shakers with the Olives, we set off for the walk along the waterfront to the treaty grounds.  We’ve been here in the Bay of Islands so many times but haven’t really spent any quality time here at the Treaty grounds, so were well overdue for a visit.

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At the entrance, we made our first priority a coffee and something to eat so headed towards the Cafe. We were really early for the guided tour so had plenty of time to kill.

We decided to go on ahead anyway and walk up to the Treaty house and have a decent look, something I have never done and it’s really interesting. There is part of it at the back which is partly stripped to show how it was built as a kitset in Australia to be put together here. Really interesting.

I didn’t realise either that there was quite a big courtyard at the back of it which you never see.

Fiona decided to walk back down to the entrance to catch the guide for the walk back up. I walked over to the Meeting house just in time to catch the previous cultural show. They’re a fun bunch! Lots of humour but with a serious educational theme as well.

There were about 30 people in the group and one person was volunteered to be the chief. He had to receive the challenge and then be accepted into the meeting house on behalf of all of us. He was Dutch and although his English was OK, he did really well as they had primed him to do a 5-minute speech which in the end was lucky if it was 30 seconds but all in jest but I’m sure he had some anxious moments thinking about it 🙂

A great show and well worth doing and great performers.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow

View back to Paihia from the Treaty House

The Treaty House

Being welcomed into the Whare

The very talented group doing the cultural shows.

Looking back on our walk back to the park.

The show had just finished when Fiona turned up with her group, so I went into the show again with her 🙂

We wandered back down through the grounds checking out a wonderful new Museum largely dedicated to the Maori Battalion and the contribution they made over the years. Both Fiona and I come from a strong Army background, so we found it really interesting. During the war, the Germans found the Maori Battalion to be fearsome warriors and extremely effective soldiers. It’s great to see them getting some recognition for their efforts.

We checked out the other museum too which was more about the Treaty grounds and the early settlers. Really interesting and very well displayed with some great audio-visual displays as well.

It was back to Rafe at Jan’s Motorhome Park after that and a G&T to finish off the day.