A Taste of Whangerei
The Pacific Kia Ora Tatou, On our return to New Zealand, not much has changed, we notice. Since March 2009, the time of our first visit, New Zealanders continue to use Maori names. We’re sure they are a wonderful people, the Maoris, but it is a struggle to get our tongues around the language. We arrived at Auckland International and set off for Whangerei—pronounced fangaray—approximately 3 hours north of the airport. The roads are narrow and winding so progress was slow. Try these place names, for starters—Takapuna, Whangaparao, Waiwera, Matakana, Pakiri—to name a few. Then we reached the airport exit. In the Beginning Last visit, the customs’ agent was fascinated with our boots. We were instructed to remove them from our baggage so they could be inspected for obnoxious soil and weeds. They didn’t think we might clean them off before carrying them in our luggage? In a moment of pique, we were thinking how sweet it would be to have handed him the boot that was covered in cow dung aft...