Russell -The Hell Hole of the Pacific?

The first stop after leaving the marina at Opua was the town of Russell which was the first capital of New Zealand.

As one of the earliest settlements in New Zealand, Russell and the surrounding areas have a rich and colourful history. While Abel Tasman did not set foot in New Zealand during his 1642 visit, Captain Cook's visit in 1769 put the Bay of Islands on the European map. As a harbour it was described as "a most noble anchorage" and it was little wonder that whalers and traders regularly stopped at the port of Kororareka for fresh water and supplies. Missionaries (Anglican and Catholic) followed in the 1820s and 30s and much of this history remains today.

Russell was the first whaling port in NZ and at that time had a reputation as a lawless, rowdy spot and earned its title as the Hell Hole of the Pacific. Now it is a sleepy seaside village with a quaint charm.

We saw the oldest church in New Zealand here and found that Charles Darwin helped fund the building of this church when he passed through.  The inside was very nice and we even found the famous musket balls embedded in the outside walls from a Maori attack.  There was a nice museum here that had more Maori and Captain Cook history and they had a nice 1/5^th scale model of the Endeavour.

We enjoyed a nice lunch in the town and hiked up Flagstaff hill.  This hill is home of the notorious flagstaff that was chopped down by Hone Heke on four occasions as a protest against British Rule and provides a superb lookout for the whole Bay. A mosaic on the hill allows you to get your bearings. From here you can look out to Waitangi where the Treaty was signed as well as across the entire bay and back across Russell.

 

Along the hike, we saw several quail and other birds and it was very enjoyable.  New Zealand has done a nice job with its trails and parks.  Whole islands have been set aside for parkland and the trails are clean and well marked.

 

We anchored in a bay south of Russell and had some nice contact with the locals.  The first was a fisherman returning to the bay in a baby trawler.  He saw me taking pictures and came over for a closer look at Emily Grace.  We got to talking and soon he was throwing over some red snapper for our dinner.  We thanked him with a couple bottles of beer and enjoyed the fish that evening for dinner.

 

We also noticed that oysters were growing everywhere and every cove seems to have an oyster farm with racks of these delicacies.  We motored over to the one in the back of this bay and got 2 dozen for about $8 US.  Kim likes them on the grill for just enough time to steam them open and we eat them poached.  We have asked several times since as we cruise around and most times they don’t ask for any money in return.

We have a couple of weeks more before we need to head south to Whangerei.  That will be only enough time to visit a few of the islands and maybe a few bays a little north of here before we dash further south.

Tom