The kids were whiny at first but they were quickly converted. The sky was clear blue. We had a light breeze and it was probably around 70 or so.
We learned quite a bit about the area. We started in the town of Hahei which is 98% vacation homes. The guide said he thought most of the owners were from New Zealand. He said the winter population is about 300 and summer population around 5000. It's that kind of town. The beauty is so incredible and the location so desirable that people come from all over the world will pay lots of money to be here. I am sure globalization changed Hahei a lot. It is still amazing though. I also learned that the New Zealand Christmas tree is not the same tree as the bottlebrush tree which is Australian. My pictures are of the Christmas tree (flowers with red blooms). Who knows which tree is the Australian bottle brush.
Cathedral Cove was named by James Cook when he came here in the late 1700's. He seemed to get along well with the Maori who were here. He had brought sailors from Tahiti with him and they could communicate with the locals. Something must have gone terribly wrong in Hawaii where the native people killed him.
I asked the guide which country most of the tourists were from -- he said Germany. There were some Germans in our group and he asked them if anyone was left in Germany right now. They all seem to be here.
 |
| Our tour included coffee, hot chocolate and cookies at the beach. Never too hot for such snacks. Sonia hung out with the guides. |
Look at the color of the water! Glorious!
ReplyDelete