Category Archives: New Zealand

Christmas in Whangarei

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It’s Christmas in Whangarei!  The marina where we are staying is hosting a Christmas decorating contest and we just had to enter!  They had about 8 prizes ranging from Best overall to best small display, best local display, best international display and best display on the poles. 

For the first time ever, we decorate the outside of Sugar Shack.  Matt rigs a special platform for the light’s solar panels and hoists four 39 meter strands of light up the mast!  It is a gorgeous display at night, but unfortunately the bright lights on shore temper the colors.

Since, there was a competition, I took most of my holiday décor and put it in the cockpit.  I borrowed some garland and small Christmas pieces from the marina and gussied it all up.  I had two trees.  One tree was positioned on our electrical post and one in the cockpit.  Both lit up at night.

Cookie Baking Day

I spent 5 days baking hundreds of cookies.  I made gingerbread, white mice (Mexican sugar cookies), sugar cookies, chocolate candy canes with white chocolate frosting and peppermint shavings, and toffee.

Judges and Awards

The judges came by a week before Christmas. I was not past bribing them so I fed them homemade cookies and freshly chilled and spiced eggnog!  The judges are Kara (green shirt), the mayor of Whangarei (vest), couple with the bell and santa.  We invited a few friends over to be our supportive elves.  

We won a few prizes right on the spot.  Matt won a lovely Christmas apron and a beer belt and I got a beautiful pair of gloves with a fake ring and fur.

The awards were given a few nights later and guess what?  We won 2 prizes.  We won “Best overall” and Residence Choice.  This is what the judge said as she awarded our prize “”So the winner of this category not only start bribing us with cookies from November, they tinselled, they lit up, they dress up’d, they made Eggnog, they Baked even more cookie and got fully into the xmas spirit. Congrats to Christine and Matt from Sugar shack!”  We won a $20 bag of coins (for laundry and showers) and a $100 gift certificate!  Yeah

Christmas Eve on Sugar Shack

Sixteen of our cruiser friends were invited over for a Christmas Eve dinner.  We provided the pork tenderloin, eggnog, jello shots, white elephant, and christmas cookies.  Everyone else were asked to bring a special dish from their home country since we had Germans, Swiss, Lithuanian, and Swiss.

What a truly blessed day we had!  We started out with a traditional game of White Elephant where everyone was way too polite for my taste.

We quickly moved on to the eggnog and jello shots which livened up the game 😊

Santa even came and filled everyone’s stockings while everyone was enjoying the merriment (top left corner) and the goodies are shown in the bottom center photo).

It was an amazing way to celebrate Christmas with good friends, tasty food and lots of merriment.

Events from this blog took place on 24 December 2022.  Did you read about our Dutch Sinterklaas celebration in our last blog?

Sinterklaas and Piet

Sinterklaas, A Dutch Christmas

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 Sinterklaas is the Dutch equivalent of Christmas held on 5 December annually.  Our Dutch friends, Minke and Jaap (“Eastern Stream“) and John and Ada (“Rhapsody“)  hosted a traditional Dutch Sinterklaas celebration for us while we were in Whangarei.   This is special in so many ways, but primarily because it is a Dutch tradition that we did not get to celebrate (as Dutch-Indos kids).  However, several elements were intertwined with our holiday celebrations.

Sinterklaas is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children.  The feast of Sinterklaas is celebrated with the giving of gifts and playing of games.

Festivities begin around mid-November when Sinterklaas arrives from Spain by steamboat.  Then he travels the country on a trusted white/grey horse.  Many towns host extravagant parades to welcome Sinterklaas and his trusted assistant Zwarte Piet.  Why Spain?  The rumor is because in 1087, half of Saint Nicolas’s relics were transported to the Italian city of Bari, which later became part of the Spanish Kingdom of Naples. 

Zwarte Piete

Trusted helper to Sinterklaas dressed in Moorish attire and in blackface.  Dating back to the 16th century, he was been known to dress in noble attire while carrying the burlap bag for Sinterklaas.  His black face has divided a nation.  Some say that he was originally a black slave while others say that his face is black from the chimney soot.  To this day half the country prefers him black face and others opt to select different colors from the rainbow for Piete.

Sinterklaas and Piet

Sinterklaas and Piet

Naughty Children

My dad and my Dutch friends remember growing up with the threat of horrible consequences if they had been naughty.  In the early days, Piet would carry a birch rod, a chimney sweep’s broom, and would spank children who had been naughty. And really naughty children were put into Piet’s bag and were taken back to Spain for an entire year.  Of course, in modern ages, they no longer tell children of the spankings or trips to Spain – they merely get small bags of salt instead of gifts.  An equally disastrous outcome if you ask me.

Traditions

Leading up to 5 December, children leave a single shoe next to the fireplace before going to bed.  Inside the shoe would be a carroty or some hay and a bowl of water for Sinterklaas’s horse.  The next day, the children would find a small treat or candy inside their shoe.

Sweet Treats

Inside the shoe children would find tasty chocolate letters of their first name and Kruidnoten (small, round, gingerbread-like cookies).

Minke and Ada spent three days preparing this special Sinterklaas celebration for us.  They made chocolate letters for everyone and they made a huge batch of Kruidnoten, Gevulde Speculaas, and chocolate nutty surprises.

Giving of Gifts

Parents surprise the children by telling them Sinterklaas left a burlap sack of gifts for them at the door.  Typically, one adult would leave the bag on the front step, ring the bell, and run around to the back door to be present for the opening of the front door.

A humorous poem that pokes fun of the recipient is given with each gift..  Sinterklaas and Peit have a great sense of humor.

Adult Game

The adults play a Sinterklaas dice game (similar to “White Elephant).  There are two rounds and each person gets a turn at the dice for a set amount of time.  Once round 1 is over, you start round 2.  It is truly hilarious and fun to play. I highly recommend it over White Elephant!

Minke and Ada had us each bring (1) wrapped present you like and (1) funny, wrapped present worth $10 each, and a shoe.  We left the shoes by the BBQ grill as that was the closest thing to a chimney.

The dice tell you what to do from opening a present, to swapping and stealing presents, changing seats, and skipping turns.  It was super fun.

After both rounds, we grilled up some tasty grub and realized to our surprise that our shoes each had a beautiful present inside them.  Sinterklaas hand made beautiful ornaments for everyone!

We each received this beautiful invitation for our very first Sinterklaas.

The events from this blog occurred in early December.  Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events. What did we do in Whangarei for 6 weeks, check out the blog.

Town Basin Marina Whangarei

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Town Basin Marina is conveniently located in the heart of Whangarei.  There are shops, restaurants, marine stores, markets, bakeries, and all sorts of places to spend your money all within walking distance.  And it is just so beautiful at night with all the lights twinkling and reflecting in the water.

We had massive rains and floods during our stay.  Locals said they had not seen it rain like this in over a dozen years.  Unfortunately, with the heavy rains, comes the debris, broken trees, branches, trash, and muck down the river.

Lucky for us, the marina returned to its normal beauty within a few days.

The tide is between 2-3 meters at the Town Basin Marina making the ramps fun to walk on.  Notice the difference between the gazebo and Sugar Shack and the angle of the ramp.

Claphams National Clock Museum

Just pas the marina office is Claphams National Clock Museum which includes one of the world’s largest sun dials and a working ball clock!

Not sure I ever figured out how to tell time using the sun dial, but it sure is a work of art in the center of Town Basin, Whangarei.

The Whangarei Ball Clock

Is it a kinetic sculpture? Or is it a cultural attraction? Is it a clock? It is all these and much more. The Rolling Ball clock is now in place in its prime location adjacent to the museum. The time is indicated by balls that roll onto timing racks with markings for hours, minutes and seconds. There is always something to marvel at anytime during the day!

Inside the museum is a rare collection of unique and funny clocks.  As you enter the museum, you are greeted with everyday household items and musical instrument clocks converted into clocks.

Telling time using the balls

The Town Basin Time Ball 

Many small and unique clocks that surprise and delight the eyes.

Great old grandfather, grandmother, and grand daughter clocks line many walls inside the museum.

Do you have any interest in a clock museum?  Normally, I would say, well….not really.  However, I found it rather interesting to learn about the evolution of the clocks.  And it was great fun to see the variety of crazy clocks this man collected.

Glass Artistry

One of the many stores boasts of beautiful, colorful hand blown glass work.  I marvel at the beautiful colors, shapes and designs.  This store was unique in that it allowed you to view the hand blown glass technique first hand.

Hundertwasser Art Center

Hundertwasser Art Center is a marvel in its mere presence in the marina!  We always know how to get back to the boat, just by looking for the big gold icon!

This museum is dedicated to Wairau Maori Art.  The museum also honors and promotes the legacy of visionary, painter, ecologist, and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  It was great fun wandering around the grounds and facilities

Car Show

One Sunday, Matt and I stumbled on a small car show in a parking lot.  They had a really nice variety of collectable cars!

Gypsy Fair

A caravan of gypsies came to Whangarei offering treats, games, and artisan pieces.

The Canopy Bridge

the Canopy bridge lies at one end of the marina.  The sails, masts, and spares of the boats at Town Basin Marina inspired the look and feel of the bridge.  At night the Canopy Bridge lights up in vibrant colors in a beautiful art show.  The Whangarei community comes together periodically for festivals, art shows, and markets held at the Canopy Bridge.

Te Matau a Pohe 

Matt and I had the opportunity to walk across the Te Matau a Pohe (fish hook) bridge several times as we cross from one side of town to the other.

The hook bridge is simply beautiful whether you walk on it or sail below it.  And this beautiful star tree just takes my breath away.

Artwork All Around Whangarei

Many beautiful tikis are scattered around the parks of the city.

I loved this piece…

So many beautiful sculptures and artwork around Whangarei.

This is one of my favorite pieces.  The Camera Obscura is a huge structure that winds you inside into a dark center where the light (lower left corner) reflects everything it sees from the outside inside, but upside down.

And this young lady just seemed to speak to me

One of our tasty meals at The Butter Factory

Town Basin Marina at Whangarei is a cultural hot bed and shopping Mecca all at our fingertips.  A quick hop, skip, and a jump from our slip at the marina.

Events from this blog occurred in early November.  Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  In our last blog, we are welcomed into the country of New Zealand.