worldaltem: Russell, NZ Entrance to the Bay of Islands, 1/28/18

Bay of Islands is lovely and includes about 150 islands. We visited Russell, New Zealand, a quaint little town and former whaling port that reminded me of a village in New England. This was the first European settlement in New Zealand and became a perfect provisioning port. The population in 2006 was 815. The people in this small town appeared to appreciate our visit. We walked around and some of the town's people were stationed throughout the town to tell us some of the history of the town. This was the spot where the indigenous Maori and British first agreed to documents that became the Treaty of Waitangi - making local tribes subjects of Queen Victoria.

We had a self guided Heritage Trail to follow. We visited the Anglican Church/Christchurch and cemetery, Russell Museum, saw carved "pou" (posts) that depicted the life of Tamati Waka Nene - a high ranking chief and many quaint colonial-era buildings housing cafes, gift shops, and Bed and Breakfasts. There was a four-piece band playing on a porch on the waterfront street. We saw many beautiful flowers in the gardens and passed a large group of men that were lawn bowling.

There was also a group of Town's People that did Street Theater about the history of Russell and how the Women's Temperance League was trying to rid the town of rascals, reprobates and strumpets. Russell's reputation was so bad, it became known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific".

The weather was lovely and the visit was interesting, largely due to the contributions of the town's people.