Oct. 22 (Tuesday)
Ain’t it always the way? Here’s the blurb from an exhibit in the Maori Museum at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds:
“When combat came to close-quarters fighting, an expert handling the taiaha was a match for an opponent with a rifle and bayonet. This was illustrated as late as the 1940s, when a member of the Maori Battalion famously challenged a British weapons instructor to a duel and disarmed him.”
I mean SHEE-IT! Wouldn’t you have loved to see that? Countless old movies have CONCLUSIVELY PROVEN BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that the weapons instructor here had a massive walrus mustache and was irked that he’d been assigned the job of teaching a bunch of “primitives” how to fight… Chortle!
Want to see the weapon? Here you go:
Spear. Well, a little more than a spear. We were treated to a cultural program by six yung’uns who whirled and glared and bugged out their eyes. They were impressive with their weapons, no doubt…but I’m an old lady. Can’t we get a MAN in here to show us how it’s done? Do you suppose Jason Momoa has forever ruined me for any other haku warrior?
The massive war canoes were on display in a long shed, where each upright had been carved with the signs of different tribes. Dig it!
And outside the treaty meeting house, two green parrots were roosting on (and in, via a hole they’d ruthlessly carved) the figure of a man on the roof. I would have taken a picture, but I’ve recently learned JUST how far from modern my phone is and the birds wouldn’t have shown up as more than a smudge. (My iPhone X is struggling along with only two lenses; the iPhones 15 and 16 that all the cool kids have are rocking FOUR lenses…however, Jeff the photography guy said the Ten really DOES have a wonderful portrait mode, and that made me puff up with pride. THAT’S the mode I used to take the faces photos on the totems—meaning that Jeff and I are like THIS.)
Last night of the cruise. The Zodiak ride from the Waitangi Grounds was far wilder than anyone anticipated and I was soaked by the time we got back. But no laundry service any more; too close to the end of the voyage. I rinsed the salt out of my clothes in the shower and have hung them up on deck six in the hopes that they’ll dry before I have to have my luggage outside my room by 6am…or just leave it all behind, swaying in the New Zealand breeze!
Tomorrow Twig, Harry, and I uncouple from Lindblad. We fly to the South Island of NZ to continue our trip. I’m really looking forward to having a little more control over what I do with my days—and to driving through the New Zealand countryside!
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