Northland Pilgrimage,November 2014

November 2014 was an amazing month.I was lucky enough to meet up with other Heritage Rose lovers from all around NZ in  the Bay Of Islands for a pilgrimage to Ohio Bay the site of the first mission station in NZ established in 1844.

We climbed down to Marsden Cross from the bus stop.We nearly had an upset as our bus slid off the side of the road and we had to clamber out on the lean.A bit scary but we got off safely.
The site of the cross is now a reserve and sadly only one of the roses remain due to some over zealous conservation volunteers who did not know anything about roses!
The walk down was lovely, steep going back but well worth the walk. The cross is magnification and there is a real sense of history here.The remains of the Maori pa loomed overhead of us,the missionaries were under their protection.I wonder how those gentle women from another world found this proximity reassuring as their men were often far away bring the christian word to the local Maori tribes.
Here the first roses were planted by missionary wives, amongst them we know Slaters Crimson was present and is grown in local gardens to the present day.We visited direct descendents of the missionary families and saw the family names replicated in roses growing today.

We stayed at the hotel next to the Treaty Grounds and we were given a tour of the grounds and the Treaty House itself.Later we went to Russell and the Pompellier House, home of the Catholic printing press.I met up with Clive Arlidge there,a real surprise as he had just dropped in to see how the morning tea was going as the local marae were catering for it.The roses were original varieties and beautifully cared for by volunteers.The boat trip over was a treat as well.
We travelled all over Northland and experienced wonderful hospitality at a variety of local members gardens under the stewardship of Olga who rallied her troops to make our trip enjoyable.
We visited the Kauri Museum and dined there before returning to Whangarei  that night.We saw the Hunterweisser town and spent a penny in the toilets there.
Too many experiences to recount in total but we ended our trip in Auckland with the re-opening of the Nancy Steen Garden  after a refurbishment.We had a lovely evening with local members and then we went to Ayrilies Garden on our final day for a good look at the magnificant garden and morning tea around the poolside.
The tour finished at the Auckland Botanic gardens rose garden.