We have now been in Russell for two days. The first was a quiet sort of day. In the morning, after a late start we met Lady Bright for coffee with a local friend of hers. They were discussing a rather horrific incident, a fellow kayaker, a highly experienced one, whose boat overturned last week and she drowned in the midst of friends and colleagues.
The friend went on her way and the rest of us climbed up Flagstaff Hill, the point (much moaned about by our Taupo Airbnb host) at which Maoris cut down the British flag repeatedly until war broke out. Lady Bright is not at all of the view of the Taupo host, let it be said. She stood on the sundial (off by an hour – daylight savings? I have no idea) and pointed out an island which had been taken over by an English family with a terrible overseer who insulted one of his workers, a chief’s son, so badly that the latter killed him. He confessed to the Englishwoman who was horrified and did not understand at all his statement that he had to do it. So he killed her and her children as well. Much later he was the first person to be hanged in New Zealand. One can see why Pakeha would consider this a horror story, but Lady Bright definitely held the view that this was just one more example of misunderstanding.
We went on to Long Beach, which lies on the other side of the peninsula and is a 15 minute walk between really beautiful green hills as well as the Duffus estate – one wonders why they didn’t change the name. The other way back, down the zigzag path, was extremely steep, one of the steepest I’ve encountered, and made me fear for my toes, but all was well. The beach was crowded (by New Zealand standards; blissfully empty by Mediterranean) and later that afternoon the Gentleman Friend and I returned for a swim only to find the water was absolutely freezing for our tropical selves. We immediately rethought any idea of settling in New Zealand.
Dinner was at the Duke’s, the old hotel. Very tasty. Lady Bright is wonderful company.